HISTORY OF THE WHALE. 
5 
bellowing stretched itself upon the dead fish, and 
shared its fate. 
This inoffensive and lethargic creature sometimes 
displays vivacity and playfulness. Putting himself in 
a vertical position, the head downwards, with a rapid 
motion of the tail he laves the sea into foam and froth. 
At other times, with a most ludicrous agility, he darts 
wholly from his element, and the mass, weighing per- 
haps seventy tons, is seen suspended in the air. If, 
as a certain philosopher would make us believe, this 
earth is only a thin upper-crust, it is happy that he 
alights on so flexible and elastic a medium as water ; 
for such ungainly pranks might fracture the surface, 
and give us, however unwillingly, an inspection of 
the far-famed “ Symmes’s Hole.” 
One species, called by the Greenlanders the razor- 
back , has been known to measure one hundred and 
five feet in length. This is the largest of the whale 
tribe. It yields but little oil, and is more violent, 
restive, and muscular than the other species. He is 
also swifter, running at the rate of twelve miles an 
hour; and Mr. Scoresby has seen him, when struck 
with a harpoon, run off 480 fathoms (2880 feet, more 
than half a mile) of line in a minute. 
The common, or right whale, is the exclusive ob- 
ject of the Greenland fishery. The various species 
of this whale are found in every part of the ocean, 
but most abundantly in the Greenland seas, and on 
the banks of Brazil. The valuable products of this 
animal are common, or right-whale oil, and whale- 
bone. Of 322 individuals of this species, the longest 
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