NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. i 3 ? 



poorer fort of people, who pickle it. The Scots eat it, and look 

 upon it as a very good difh ; and in North America it is faid the 

 French make faufages of it. They breed like the Shark and 

 Whale, being of the viviparous kind. It is affirmed that they 

 breed every month, and one of my correfpondents is of this 

 opinion ; but I dare not affert this for a certainty, unlefs I could 

 meet with farther confirmation. They are fometimes fhot ; and 

 are alfo caught, when they run into narrow creeks, with the Summer 

 Herrings: for this purpofe the fifhermen have a very ftroncr net ; 

 this they fpread over the mouth of the creek where the water 

 runs out, which is fo open, that they work their head through, 

 and then, like the fmaller Fifh, they ftick faft by the gills. 



It is faid the PorpeiTe are fond of the human fpecies, and feek 

 their company : but perhaps what gave rife to this opinion is 

 their being fond of following boats and fhips in the Mediterra- 

 nean, where they are called Dolphins, and are feen (as well as 

 on the coaft of Norway) in great numbers. There they alfo 

 imagine that this animal is fond of mufic, and may be enfnared 

 by means of it. It is certain that it is not one of the mute Fifhes, 

 for fometimes they make a noife like the cries of a human crea- 

 ture. The Italians alfo call this Fifh Marfvine Cacciatore de 

 Mare, becaufe they are very voracious, purfuing all kinds of fmall 

 Fifh, Gafpar Schottus, who in his Phyfica Curiofa, Lib. x. cap. 

 12. p. 1085. calls this the King of Fifhes, and relates from j£li- 

 an and other ancient writers, fome remarkable ftories concerning 

 it; and thefe, if we fuppofe them true, confirm their afTeaion for 

 the human-kind, as obferved before * 



Marulke, See Ulke. iferaik* 



Mort. See Sey : for it is of that kind, tho' it has a different Mort. 

 name, becaufe of its fize, which is fmaller. 



SECT. IIL 



The Narhval, Unicornu Marinum, the Unicorn Fifh, is, like N«hwi. 

 the former, of the Whale kind ; but, as far as I have been able 

 to learn, this fpecies is feldom found on the coaft of Norway : 

 farther up the North fea, particularly along the Greenland coaft, 

 it is not uncommon. The anonymous author of a letter concern- 

 ing the Whale-fifhery, prefix'd to the Danifh tranllation of Peirere's 

 Account of Iceland, defcribes this Fifh in thefe words: " The 

 Narwhel's body is of the bignefs of a large horfef j it has four 



* ^ d l th ? Por P eff e, there is another of the Whale kind, called Dolphin ; and alfo 

 a lmall f lih or a very different kind. 



u + - l \ mU £r h n VC b ul en , "ffff J for according to the various accounts that are to 

 be read in Willoughby s Hift. Pifc. Append, p. 12. others have ken them 43 or 44 

 feet long. ^ ^ 



Part II. N a fi lls 



