REMARKS. 
7 
the balaenopterse (back-finned whales), and balaense (com- 
mon black whales); for it would be quite impossible for 
him to swallow such monstrous victims, as his throat is 
scarcely sufficiently capacious to admit the body of a 
man, and also from the fact of his teeth not possessing 
the power of separating, or of masticating his food, but 
merely possessing a prehensile or holding power; for 
being provided only with a row of widely separated, 
short-pointed, conical teeth in the lower jaw, and none 
in the upper, except in a few instances, in which they 
appear wholly rudimentary, scarcely projecting beyond 
the gums, he is totally unable to wound seriously, 
much more to tear to pieces and devour, the body of 
such an enormous animal as a balsena, even if it were 
not an adult, or one of the b ala) nop terse, in which is 
included the giant fin-back. 
As for the dolphins, seals, and sharks which he is 
made to chase with ravenous voracity, until they hide 
themselves in mud, or dash themselves against rocks 
in attempting to escape; I can only observe with regard 
to such tales, that the sperm whale is never, or very 
rarely seen near sand, mud, or rocks, and therefore 
would not he likely to run his victim so hard; nor can 
I comprehend the latter’s suicidal attempts to rid them- 
selves of the constant harassing which they are repre- 
sented as receiving from the cachalot. For although 
the sperm whale at times approaches the shores of 
islands and other places searching for their food, I never 
saw them nearer than a mile or two, and these were rare 
instances; and it is well known to whalers that they 
