T1IE Ci 11 A .M PUS; THE DOLPHIN. 
147 
sought after by inan, as it contains two very precious drugs, 
spermaceti and ambergris: the whole oil of this fish is very 
easily convertible into spermaceti. This is performed by 
boiling it with a lye of pot-ash, and hardening it in the 
manner of soap. Candles are now made of it, which are 
substitute*! for wax, and sold much cheaper. 
As to the ambergris, which is sometimes found in this 
whale, it was long considered as a substance found floating 
on the surface of the sea ; but time, that reveals the secrets of 
the mercenary, has discovered that it chiefly belongs to this 
animal. The name which has been improperly given to the 
former substance, seems more justly to belong to this; for 
the ambergris is found in the place where the seminal vessels 
are usually situated in other animals. It is found in a bag of 
three or four feet long, in round lumps, from one to twenty 
pounds weight, floating in a fluid rather thinner than oil, and 
of a yellowish colour. There are never seen more than four 
at a time in one of these bags; and that which weighed 
twenty pounds, and which was the largest ever seen, was 
found single. These balls of ambergris are not found in all 
fishes of this kind, but chiefly in the oldest and strongest. 
The blunt-headed chachalot is fifty-four feet in length. Its 
greatest circumference is just beyond the eyes, and is thirty 
feet. The upper jaw is five feet longer than the lower, which 
is ten feet. The head is above one third the size of the fish. 
The end of the upper jaw is blunt, and near nine feet high, 
the spout-hole placed near the end of it. The teeth are 
placed in the lower jaw, twenty-three on each side, all 
pointing outwards, and in the upper jaw, opposite, are a 
number of holes to receive them when the mouth is closed; 
they are about eighteen inches long. 
The Grampus, the Dolphin, and the Porpesse. 
All these fish have teeth both in the upper and lower jaw, 
and are much less than the whale. The grampus, which is 
the largest, never exceeds twenty feet. It may also be dis- 
tinguished by the flatness of its head, which resembles a 
boat turned upside down. The porpesse resembles the 
grampus in most things, it is seldom above eight feet long; 
1 ts snout also more resembles that of an hog. The dolphin 
bas a strong resemblance to the porpesse, except that its 
s nout is longer and more pointed. They have all fins on the 
back ; they all have heads very large, like the rest of the 
■whale kind; and resemble each other in their appetites, their 
nianners, and conformations ; being ecptally voracious, 
a ctive, and roving. 
