100 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



Scoresby has seen it return to banquet again on the whale at the 

 very spot where it received its wounds. The heart, as is fre- 

 quently the case with gluttons, bears no proportion to its vast 

 capacity of stomach ; for it is very small, and performs only six 

 or eight pulsations in a minute, continuing its beating for some 

 hours after having been taken out of the body. The body also, 

 though separated into any number of parts, gives evidence of life 

 for a similar length of time. It is therefore so difficult to kill, 

 that it is actually unsafe to trust the hand in its mouth though 

 the head be separated from the body. 



Strange to say, though the whale-fishers frequently slip into 

 the water where sharks abound, Scoresby never heard an instance 

 of their having been attacked by one of these voracious monsters. 

 Perhaps they are loth to attack man, looking upon him as their 

 best purveyor. 



Saw of the Saw-fish. 



Fishermen relate that the whale and saw-fish, whenever they 

 come together, engage in deadly combat ; the latter invariably 

 making the attack with inconceivable fury. 



" The meeting of these champions proud 

 Seems like the bursting thunder cloud." 



The whale, whose only defence is his tail, endeavours to strike 

 his enemy with it ; and a single blow would prove mortal. But the 

 saw-fish, with astonishing agility, shuns the tremendous stroke, 

 bounds into the air, and returns upon his huge adversary, plung- 

 ing the rugged weapon with which he is furnished into his back. 

 The whale is still more irritated by this wound, which only 

 becomes fatal when it penetrates the fat ; and thus pursuing and 

 pursued, striking and stabbing, the engagement only ends with 

 the death of one of the unwieldy combatants. 



Even the white-bear is said to attack the whale, watching his 



