4 
INTRODUCTORY 
From these accounts it is evident, that both Ander- 
son and the Abbe Lecoz, have been mistaken in the kind 
of whale which they saw, and which they heard emit 
the sounds of which they have written* Having no 
doubt mistook the sperm whale for the balaena mysti- 
cetus, or common Greenland whale, which I have heard 
myself produce loud sounds, but which have more resem- 
bled the roaring of an enraged bull, than the vehement 
sound of a bell, as Anderson has asserted* 
While the sperm whale has been quietly searching 
the ocean depths for his food, and avoiding with the 
greatest care and timidity the slightest danger or ren- 
contre of any kind, he has been represented by Olassen 
and Povelsen as the most savage and ferocious of all 
marine animals; for not only, according to their ac- 
counts, does the cachalot constantly thirst for the blood 
of every fish in the sea, but actually possesses a relish for 
human flesh, which we are led to suppose they wished 
to satiate, when these historians assert that they seized, 
and upset with their jaws, a boat which contained some 
seamen, whom they speedily devoured. 
If these huge but timid animals happen to see or 
hear the approach of a ship or boat, their fear in all 
cases is excessive, and they either dive into the depths 
of the ocean, or skim along its surface with the utmost 
precipitation, to avoid the danger of a concussion, or the 
blow of the harpoon, which, when inflicted, often para- 
lyses the largest and strongest of them with affright, in 
which state they will often remain for a short period on 
the surface of the sea, lying as it were in a fainting con- 
