VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
49 
traordinary degree, as it is not at any great distance 
alarmed at the noise of danger preparing for it : on 
the top of the head is the protuberance, termed the 
Crown, in the front of which are two orifices for the 
convenience of respiration. Through these it ejects 
its breath with a degree of force, that often makes 
it appear like water: they are placed in the part 
that, in the natural progress of motion, comes first 
to the surface of the water ; the fins are articulated, 
and placed a little behind that part of the mouth, 
where the jaw-bones terminate ; their use seems to 
be to give steadiness in the water by balancing the 
animal, for, as soon as life is extinct, it falls on its 
side or turns on its back ; with the fins it also affords 
protection to its young ; behind these is the thickest 
part, which is cylindrical ; and this form continues 
to some distance, and decreases like a cone towards 
the tail. The tail is the formidable weapon, from 
which the whale derives its astonishing strength 
for motion and defence : by means of this, it ad- 
vances through the ocean, and the greatest velocity 
is produced by powerful strokes against the water, 
impelled alternately upward or downward. To give 
a slow motion, the tail cuts the water laterally and 
obliquely downward, in the manner of an oar Avhen 
used at the stern of a boat, in what is called skul- 
ling.” The position of the tail is horizontal, in- 
dented in the middle ; it has two lobes, pointed, and 
turned rather backward, and is composed of sinewy 
fibres, with two large layers of tendons, leading both 
above and below, from the back and belly of the 
E 
