REMARKS. 
5 
dition; from which however they recover (if the dexte- 
rous whaler profiting by the circumstance, has not mor- 
tally wounded his prey), and shew extreme activity in 
avoiding their foes ; but they rarely turn upon their 
cruel adversaries, for although men and boats are 
frequently destroyed in these rencontres, they are more 
the effect of accident during violent contortions and 
struggles to escape, than from any wilful attack. 
Yet the Baron Cuvier, in the compilation of its natu- 
ral history, which he has obtained from many incorrect 
sources, states:-*- the terrible arms, the powerful and 
numerous teeth with which nature has provided the 
cachalot, render it a terrific adversary to all the inha- 
bitants of the deep, even to those which are most 
dangerous to others ; such as the phocse, the balae- 
nop term, the dolphin, and the shark. So terrified are 
all these animals at the sight of the cachalot, that they 
hurry to conceal themselves from him in the sands or 
mud, and often in the precipitancy of their flight, dash 
themselves against the rocks with such violence as to 
cause instantaneous death. It is not therefore sur- 
prising, 9 ' says Cuvier, “ if the myriads of fishes on 
which this tyrant preys, are struck with the most 
lively terror at his presence. So powerful is this feel- 
ing, that the multitudes of fish which seek with avidity 
the dead carcasses of the other cetacea, dare not approach 
the body of the cachalot when he is floating lifeless on 
the surface of the ocean." 
From such accounts as these, we might be led to 
believe that there is no animal in the creation more mon- 
