WF CETACEOUS FISHES. 
47 
( lie fovereignty of the ocean : On the contrary, as it is 
a Peaceable and inoffenfive animal, it has many ene- 
!* Ues difpofed to take advantage of its difpofition, and 
Aptitude for combat *. There is a fmall animal of the 
teftaceous kind, called the whale-loufe, that Hicks to its 
od 7> as we fee fiitlls Hick to the foul bottom of a lhip. 
This creature infinuates itfelf chiefly under the fins ; and, 
* n defiance of all the efforts of the whale, it Hill keeps 
* ts h°ld, and lives upon the fat, which it is provided with 
Jri ft runicnts to extract. The fifliermen, however, often wit- 
n efs the encounters of the whale with a much more terrible 
e 'ietny. At the fight of the fword-fifli, this largell of 
Animals is feen agitated in an extraordinary manner, and 
leaping from the water as if with fear. Wherever it 
Appears, the whale perceives it at a diftance, and flies 
rom it in the oppofite direaion. The whale has no in- 
rument of defence except the tail : with that it endea, 
Vours to ftnke the enemy ; and a fingle blow taking- 
place, would effectually deftroy the adverfary : But the 
fword-filh is as aftive as the other is flrong, and eafily 
avoids the ftroke ; then bounding into the air, it fulls 
upon its fubjacent enemy, and endeavours, not to pierce 
^ nh lts pointed beak, but to cut with its edges. The 
ea all a b out i s f een dyed w j th b lood , proceeding from 
v 'ounds of the whale; while the enormous animal 
its ? m endeavours to reach its invader, and ftnkes with 
at a S a in(f the furface of the water, making a report 
A irrf° W ^° uder ^ an t l' c n°ife of a cannon f. 
its o 1 m0ie fatd Cnemy 0t the whale ’ is an animal of 
tIle ° rder > called by- the fifhermen of New England 
Of ferocious habits, and furnifhed with flrong 
fharp 
* Goldfinith. 
t Andctfon’j Dictionary of Commerce. 
