iz4 



NATURAL HI STORY of NOR TV A Y. 



Hvidling. 



Wonderful 

 Privilege. 



different, as may be Jeen ill the plate annexed, where it is 

 exa&ly delineated. Mr. Lucas Debes mentions, in his Delcrip- 

 tion of Farroe, p. 162, a particular fort of Whale, called Dog- 

 lingen ; this is about 30 feet long, and is the eafieft caught of 

 all the fpecies ; for it will remain ftill while a rope is run 

 through its eye-lid : thefe have the characters or diftinguifhing 

 marks of the Whale kind more ftrongly than any other. They 

 are drawn afliore by thefe ropes. The train oil extra&ed from 

 thefe Doglingers is lb fine and fubtil, that the veffels it is put 

 into muft be made of wood of a very clofe contexture. If the 

 fat be eaten, it immediately tranfpires through the pores, and 

 turns the perfbn's linnen yellow*. 



The Hvidling, Hvilling, called here Quitling, the Whiting, 

 Afellus Gandidus, fo called from its white colour, is a middling 

 fiz'd Fifh, with a longifh body, and very fharp teeth. The 

 flefh of this Fifh is very delicate and agreeable to the palate. 

 Whitings are moftly found where the ground is muddy, and 

 caught with a hook and line. Mr. Anderfon is of opinion, that 

 the Whiting is what the French properly call Morue, and is 

 caught in abundance on the banks of Newfoundland : he relates, 

 in his Defcription of Iceland, p. 85, that this greedy Fifh has 

 by nature a certain property, which, perhaps, many gluttons of 

 the human fpecies would be glad of; namely, that when he acci- 

 dentally happens to fwallow a piece of wood, or any thing he 

 cannot digeft, he can throw out his ftomach, turn it iniide out, 

 and empty it in the water ; and then fuck it in again to its 

 proper place. This Dionys confirms from his own obfervation, 

 in his Defcription des cotes de 1'Amerique Septentrionale, Vol ii. 

 p. 181. 

 Handftigier. The Hundftigler, Hundftage, Aculeatus minor, the common 

 Stittleback, is one of the fmalleft of Fifh ; it moves about very 

 quick in the water, and is daily found near the ftorehoufes, but 

 it is not much regarded. God's providence, which is often 

 fignally difplayed in fmall things, difcovers itfelf here, by pro- 

 viding this little diminutive creature, which does not exceed two 



* In the heads of thefe Doglingers is faid to be found alfo the aforefaid rval-hav, 

 or fperma-ceti, which is known to be a good healing medicine ; from whence I con- 

 clude it to have been one of thofe which the Bremer fimermen caught fome few years 

 ago, and had never feen the like before •, from which Theod. Halfeus took occafion 

 to write his Difquifition on the Leviathan of Job, and Whale of Jonah. A French 

 tranflation of that Treatife was printed in the Bibliotheque Germanique, lorn. xv. 

 Art. iv. But perhaps this learned man is miftaken, as well as many others, in this 

 matter; for the Leviathan feems moft likely to be the Norvegian Sea-Snake, which 

 I mall treat of in the chapter of Sea-Monfters ; at leaft this appears moft probable, 

 and more agreeable to truth, than any thing yet advanced on this lubject. 



inches 



