WHALE TRIBE, 
389 
these shy and timid creatures will soon be induced 
to quit those shores by being perpetually harrassed. 
We are informed too, that the natives of Green- 
land already begin to suffer from the scarcity of 
seals in their seas. The flesh of these animals 
constitutes their principal subsistence : and should 
they be at last extirpated, or desert the coast, that 
miserable people would be in danger of perishing 
through want. 
Before the year 1598, the whale seems never to 
have been taken on our coasts, but when it was 
accidentally driven ashore. It was then deemed a 
royal fish, and the king and queen divided the spoil 
between them ; the king asserting his right to the 
head, and her majesty by prerogative entitled to the 
tail. A total revolution in the fashion of eatables,, 
and the great quantity of these fish that are now im- 
ported, has rendered this prerogative of royalty of 
less importance, and even ludicrous : formerly, how- 
ever, the whale, as well as the porpoise, and dol- 
phin, was probably a dish served at the royal 
board ; and from its magnitude it must have held 
a very respectable station there. Such dainties 
continued in vogue so late as the reign of Henry 
VOL ; for, in a household book of that prince, it 
is ordered, that if a porpoise should be too big 
for a horse load, allowance should be made to the 
purveyor. Even in the reign of queen Elizabeth, 
we find directions for The dressing and serving up 
of the dolphin with porpoise sauce ; a composition 
of vinegar, crumbs of bread, and sugar. 
The flesh of the whale has always made a part 
of the food of some savage nations. The natives 
of Greenland, as well as the barbarous tribes that 
inhabit the vicinity of the south pole, eat the flesh 
prepared in various ways, and drink the oil, which 
is with them a first rate delicacy. The finding of a 
whale is an adyenture considered among the most 
