REMARKS. 
3 
many thousands of persons have been from time to time 
engaged in the pursuit, and must have possessed the 
best opportunities of observing the habits and manners 
of this immense animal, yet not one has stepped forward 
to vindicate its history from the absurd and fabulous 
accounts with which it has been loaded, and of which 
many instances will be found in the following pages. 
For notwithstanding that the sperm whale is one of 
the most noiseless of marine animals, yet the Abbe 
Lecoz, in his account of it, gives it the power of emit- 
ting terrible groans when in distress, and which he 
states are so loud and deep, that it is possible to hear 
them from a great distance ; and Anderson asserts, that 
a cachalot, which was frightened at the approach of his 
ship, uttered a cry so loud and violent, like the sound 
of a bell, that it caused even the vessel to shake ; and 
yet all those which have been destroyed by the harpoon 
and lance, and which have been terribly frightened, and 
have made the most violent efforts to escape, never were 
heard to emit the slightest sound, and it is well known 
among the most experienced whalers, that they never 
produce any nasal or vocal sounds whatever, except a 
trifling hissing at the time of the expiration of the spout. 
But even the Baron Cuvier follows the account of 
these old historians, and asserts, that “ in the combat, 
fear, fury, or pain draw from them such profound groans, 
or piercing cries, that their congeners are attracted in 
crowds from all sides, continue the fight with fresh 
ardour and audacity, and stain the water with blood to 
the distance of many leagues.” 
