NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. n 9 



the fame manner. iC Cetacei pifees, au&ore Ariftotele, ii proprie 

 « dicuntur, qui magni funt & perfeaum animal ex femine, non 

 " exovo,gignunt f ut Delphini, Balgense, Phyfe teres. Quanquam 

 cc alii, turn Latini, turn Grseci veteres, cetaceos acceperint pro 

 " grandibus ^ cujufvis generis pifcibus. Eofdem Latini belluas 

 cc marinas etiam vocarunt, ab immanitate opinor, & magna cum 

 " terreftribus fimilitudine, nam eodem modo concipiuntur & gig- 

 " nuntur, & pulmones habent, renes, vefkam, teftes, mentulam, 

 " foeminae, vulvam, teftes, mammas ;" fays the learned Fr. Wil- 

 loughby, L. ii. c. 2. p. 26. He adds alfo a little further, that 

 feme are of opinion the reafon why the Whale, which formerly • 

 was feen almoft every where in the ocean, is found now only in 

 the North fea, is its fear of the fhips, which, fince the opening 

 of the trade to the Indies, fail about the Spanifh and African 

 feas: it is therefore fuppofed that they have deferted thole feas 

 upon that account : but this opinion has little probability | for we 

 are fenfible that great numbers of mips fail alfo on the North 

 Sea ; and particularly they muft be difturbed by the many o- r eat 

 fhips that are {rationed annually on that fifhery. By accident^per- 

 haps thefe Sea-monfters may carry themfelves too far fbuthward * 

 but their proper refidence doubtlefs has been, as it is now, in the 

 North-fea. They are annually feen along the weftern coaft of 

 Norway, about January 5 but they are not received as enemies, 

 nor do they meet with any opposition, which indeed is not fuf- 

 fered # , but as friends and allies ; tho' this circumftance be un- 

 known to them. They are fent by the all- wife Creator feveral God , s ovi . 

 hundred miles, to ferve as his inftruments, to drive numberlefs dence - 

 fhoals of Herrings, Mackrel, and other Fiih, into the creeks 

 formed between the rocks and iflands that cover the coaft, and 

 about the fand-banks, to be the fubfiftance of many thoufands 

 of people. They likewife caufe the importation of a great deal 

 of wealth, either in ipecie or merchandize. When our peasants 

 and fifhermen obferve the Whale at feveral miles diftance, which 

 they know by the appearance of fmall water-fpouts in the air, 

 which they eje& through the openings in the head, by refpira- 

 tion, they conclude by this joyful lignal, that the Winter- 

 harveft or fifhery is approaching. Immediately the fea appears 



covered, 



* There are killed however in Sunds parifh, juft by Bergen, and in fome other places, 

 every Spring, fome of the fmall ones, of 30 or 40 feet in length, which venture too 

 far in the creeks, and fcoil the Miing-nets. They are ftuck with harpoons, the points 

 of which the fmiths know how to poifon, fo that about the wound there will appear a 

 ipot as big as a fmall dim in circumference, which runs thro' the flrin, fat and flem ; 

 which laft is turn'd quite white, and often mortify'd. The flefh otherwife is of a dark 

 red, and appears almoft like beef: it is eaten by our peafants, who have fhewed it 

 me, and allured me that it taftes well, and is wholfome food. 



