8 
INTRODUCTORY 
are never seen on soundings, that is, where the bottom 
of the sea can be touched with the “ lead , 55 except they 
happen to be driven over a bank or shoal, as is some- 
times the case in the “ Seychelle ” fishery, and when the 
boats are in hot pursuit, or by some uncommon occur- 
rence, and where shoals and banks are divided by un- 
fathomable depths of ocean. Besides it is not very pro- 
bable that a sperm whale of eighty feet in length, and 
proportionable bulk could possess any chance of chasing 
and overtaking any of the dolphin tribe, seals, or sharks, 
which move with such dodging velocity as to place at 
utter defiance the movements of so immense an animal. 
Moreover this whale has never been seen to eject 
from his stomach, when mortally wounded, any other 
animal but squid, which is known to naturalists as the 
t( sepia octopus,” which is its natural food; except when 
near the shore as in 6e Volcano Bay,” on the coast of 
Japan, or in the “ Straits of Corea,*' which join the 
north Pacific with the Japanese Sea, they are some- 
times known to eject fish about the size of a small cod, 
which inhabit these localities in great plenty, and 
which, like the squid, in my opinion are attracted into 
the whale’s mouth while he is lying still for the purpose, 
from the white and glistening appearance of it, rather 
than by any power which the spermaceti whale pos- 
sesses of capturing such little nimble animals by the 
chase; but for further considerations on this subject, 
I beg leave to refer the reader to the article entitled 
“ Feeding/* which will be found in another part of this 
work. 
