THE CACHALOT. 
65 
This formidable conformation of the mouth and throat 
feems to indicate an extraordinary degree of voracity in 
*hefe animals. The liiflory of the cachalot correfponds 
to thefe appearances : for while the itomach of the whale 
Is feen to contain hardly any thing but froth, that of the 
c *chalot is crammed with a variety of different kinds of 
fifties; fome half digefted, others wiiold; fome fmall, others 
^ght or nine feet long. The cachalot, therefore, is pro- 
. one of the mofl rapacious fifties of the deep : and 
s as deuru&ive among the lefier tribes, as the whale is 
armlefs. But it is not to the fmaller fifties alone, that 
ilS animal is formidable ; among thefe the conteft is foon 
ent5ed , fi° r it can devour thoufands at one fwallow ; it 
and fUeS and terriSeS thofe of its own orJer » toe dolphin, 
the P° r peffe to fuch a degree, that they ate frequently 
lVen afiiorc in endeavouring to e fen pc. 
^ the cachalot there are no lefs than feven varieties : 
' lat . of a black colour, with two fins ; the cachalot with 
. te back, toe fame number of fins ; the fpecies 
tbl^ US f P out - hole !n th e neck ; that w ith the fpout : 
near 
tV 111011111 5 that W ‘ th tllreC and fiiar P P oi ntcd teeth ; 
th^ WUh three ^ nS ’ and ^ 1Blp edgcd teeth 5 and > laftly, 
indif aChal0t Wlth thl ' ee 1Ins ’ and fiat teeth * All thefe were 
^f*» Cnnilnately term ed fpermaceti whales *, till Mr. 
thevT b ° rr0Wed that name from the French, by which 
re now diffinguiftied f. 
iters' thc finallnefs of its fize, as well as its fierce- 
dom b ag ‘ Uy ’ tIle capture of the cachalot would fel- 
of thofe atternpted h y the fi toers, were it not for the fake 
Vol 111 Ua ° le medicines > fpermaceti and ambergris, 
* which 
