THE KING'S MIRROR 123 



is so fond and careful of its tusk that it allows nothing 

 to come near it. I know of no other varieties of whales 

 that are unfit for human food, only these five that I 

 have now enumerated: the two that I mentioned first 

 were the beaked whale and the " hog whale; " the three 

 mentioned later were the " horse whale," the " red 

 comb," and the narwhal. 



There are certain varieties of even greater size which 

 I have not yet described; and all those that I shall now 

 discuss may be eaten by men. Some of them are danger- 

 ous for men to meet, while others are gentle and peace- 

 able. One of these is called humpback; this fish is large 

 and very dangerous to ships. It has a habit of striking 

 at the vessel with its fins and of lying and floating just 

 in front of the prow where sailors travel. Though the 

 ship turn aside, the whale will continue to keep in front, 

 so there is no choice but to sail upon it; but if a ship does 

 sail upon it, the whale will throw the vessel and destroy 

 all on board. The largest of these fishes grow to a length 

 of seventy or eighty ells; they are good to eat. 



Then there is that kind which is called the Greenland 

 whale.* This fish grows to a length of eighty or even 

 ninety ells and is as large around as it is long; for a 

 rope that is stretched the length of one will just reach 

 around it where it is bulkiest. Its head is so large that it 

 comprises fully a third of the entire bulk. This fish is 

 very cleanly in choice of food; for people say that it 

 subsists wholly on mist and rain and whatever falls into 

 the sea from the air above. When one is caught and its 



* This is another name for the right whale described above; the author's 

 classification in this case must have been based on size only. 



