BAUENA. 
less frequent, and the fish had time to 
grow. Such is their bulk within the arctic 
circle : but in the torrid zone, where they 
are less molested, whales are still seen one 
hundred and sixty feet long. The head is 
very much disproportioned to the size of the 
body, being one-third of the size of the fish : 
the under lip is much broader than the 
upper. The tongue is composed of a very 
soft spongy fat, capable of yielding five or 
six barrels of oil. The gullet is very small 
for so vast a fish, not exceeding four inches 
in width. In the middle of the head are 
two orifices, through which it spouts water 
to a vast height, and with a great noise, es- 
pecially when disturbed or wounded ; the 
eyes are placed towards the back of the 
head, being the most convenient situation 
for enabling them to see both before and 
behind ; as also to see over them, where 
their food is principally found. They are 
guarded by eye-lids and eye-lashes, as in 
quadrupeds; and the animals seem to be very 
sharp-sighted. Nor is their sense of hear- 
ing in less perfection ; for they are warned 
at a great distance of any danger preparing 
against them. It is time, indeed, that the 
external organ of hearing is not percep- 
tible, for this might only embarrass them 
in their natural element ; but as soon 
as the thin scarf skin is removed, a black 
spot is discovered behind the eye, and 
under that is the auditory canal, that leads 
to a regular apparatus for hearing. In short, 
the animal hears the smallest sounds at very 
great distances, and at all times, except 
when it is spouting water, which is the 
time that the fishers approach to strike it. 
What is called whalebone, adheres to jhe 
upper jaw, and is formed of thin parallel la- 
iii in a?, some of the longest four yards in 
length ; of these there are commonly 350 
on each side, but in very old fish tnore. 
They breed only once in two years. Their 
fidelity to each other exceeds whatever we 
are told even of the constancy of birds, 
Some fishers, as Anderson informs us, 
having struck one of two whales, a male and 
a female, that were in company together, 
the wounded fish made a long and terrible 
resistance ; it struck down a boat with 
three men in it, with a single blow of its tail, 
by which all went to the bottom. The 
other still attended its companion, and lent 
it every assistance ; till, at last, the fish that 
was struck, sunk under the number of its 
wounds ; while its faithful associate, dis- 
daining to survive the loss, with great bel- 
lowing, stretched itself upon the dead fish, 
and shared its fate. The whale goes with 
young nine or ten months, and is then fatter 
than usual, particularly when near the time 
of bringing forth. It is said that the embryo, 
when first perceptible, is about seventeen 
inches long, and white ; but the cub, when 
excluded, is black, and about ten feet long. 
She generally produces one young one, and 
never above two. When she suckles her 
young, she throws herself on one side of the 
surfe.ce of the sea, and the young one at- 
taches itself to the teat. Nothing can ex- 
ceed the tenderness of the female for her 
offspring. Even when wounded, she still 
clasps her young one ; and when she 
plunges to avoid danger, takes it to the bot- 
tom ; but rises sooner than usual, to give it 
breath again. The young ones continue at 
the breast for a year, during which time, 
they are called by the sailors, short-heads. 
They are then extremely fat, and yield 
above fifty barrels of blubber. The mother 
at: the same time is equally lean and ema- 
ciated. 4. Balaena physalus, or fin fish, is 
distinguished from the common whale by a 
fin on the back, placed very low and near 
the tail. The length is equal to that of the 
common kind, but much more slender. It 
is furnished with whalebone in the upper 
jaw, mixed with hairs, but short and knotty, 
and of little value. The blubber also in the 
body of this kind is very inconsiderable. 
These circumstances, added to its extreme 
fierceness and agility, which render the cap- 
ture very dangerous, cause the fishers to 
neglect it. The natives of Greenland, how- 
ever, hold it in great esteem, as it affords a 
quantity of flesh which to their palate is 
very agreeable. The lips are brown, and 
like a twisted rope : the spout hole is 
seemingly split in the top of its head, 
through which it blows water with much 
more violence, and to a greater height, than 
the common whale. The fishers are not very 
fond of seeing it, for on its appearance the 
others retire out of those seas. It feeds on 
herrings and small fish. Inoffensive as the 
whale is, it is not without enemies. There 
is a small animal, of the shell-fish kind, called 
the whale-louse, that sticks to its body, as 
we see shells sticking to the foul bottom of 
a ship. This insinuates itself chiefly under 
the fins ; and whatever efforts the great 
animal makes, it still keeps its hold, and 
lives upon the fat, which it is provided with 
instruments to arrive at. The sword-fish, 
however, is the whale’s most terrible ene- 
my. At the sight of this little animal, the 
whale seems agitated in an extraordinary 
