HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERY. ioi) 



and some species of flat-fish, but it also frequently gives chase 

 to the porpoise, and perhaps the whale would consider the 

 grampus as his most formidable enemy, were it not for 

 the persecutions of man. Pliny gives us a fine description of 

 the conflicts which arise between these monsters of the deep. 

 At the time when the whale resorts to the bays to cast its young, 

 it is attacked by the grampus, who either lacerates it with his 

 dreadful jaws, or in rapid onset endeavours to strike in its ribs, 

 as with a catapult. The terrified whale knows no other way to 

 escape from these furious attacks, than by interposing a whole 

 sea between him and his enemy. But the grampus, equally 

 wary and active, cuts off his retreat, and drives the whale into 

 narrower and narrower waters, forcing him to bruise himself on 

 the sharp rocks, or to strand upon the shelving sands, nor 

 ceases his efforts until he has gained a complete victory. 

 During this fight the sea seems to rage against itself, for though 

 no wind may be stirring the surface, waves, such as no storm 

 creates, rise under the strokes of the infuriated combatants. 



While the Emperor Claudius was visiting the harbour of 

 Ostium, a grampus stranded in the shallow waters. The back 

 appeared above the surface of the sea, and resembled a ship with 

 its keel turned upwards. The Emperorcaused nets to be stretched 

 across the mouth of the harbour to prevent the animal's escape, 

 and then attacked it in person with his praetorian guards. The 

 soldiers surrounding the monster in boats, and hurling their in- 

 glorious spears, exhibited an amusing spectacle to the populace. 



That man ventures to pursue the leviathans of the deep 

 among the fogs and icebergs of the Arctic seas, and is generally 

 successful in their capture, may surely be considered as one of 

 the proudest triumphs of his courage and his skill. 



The breast of the first navigator, says Horace, was cased with 

 triple steel ; but of what adamantine materials must that man's 

 heart have been formed, whose steadfast hand hurled the first 

 harpoon against the colossal whale ? 



History has not preserved his name ; like the great warriors 

 that lived before Agamemnon, he sank into an obscure grave 

 for want of a Homer to celebrate his exploits. We only know that 

 the Escayans were the first civiUsed people that in the four- 



