4 
HISTORY OF THE WHALE. 
and when the fish lies on its side, its blow is tremen- 
dous ; with it he dashes the boats of the whalemen, 
and disables them, or kills the sailors. 
But the most curious feature of the whale is the 
blow holes, or nostrils, placed nearly on the crown 
of the head, and which appear 
like natural jets of water. They 
emit a warm vapor ; and when 
the breathing is vehement, wa- 
ter is thrown to the height of 
thirty or forty feet in the air. 
The sight of this spout, or the 
loud noise caused by its emission, is the first sign to 
the w T haler of its approach. 
The female nourishes its young from her own milk. 
The mother shows the greatest affection for her young. 
These delicate nurslings, only 14 or 15 feet in length, 
and weighing 2000 pounds, are often killed for the 
sole purpose of provoking an encounter with the pa- 
rent, and then the contest is deadly and desperate. 
The fidelity of these animals to each other exceeds 
whatever we are told of even the constancy of birds. 
Some fishers 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 sin- 
gle blow of the 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 faith- 
ful associate, disdaining to survive the loss, with great 
