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WHALE. 
laminae split into small divisions, which is that 
strong and pliant substance commonly known by 
the name of whalebone. There are about three 
hundred and fifty of these laminae on each side 
the jaw, five hundred of which are long enough for 
use, the others are too short. This immense fish is 
said sometimes to grow to the length ol a hundred 
feet, though it is commonly found from forty to 
seventy. The eyes are remarkably small, but the 
head is of a prodigious size, forming nearly one- 
third of the animal; and when the jaws are ex- 
tended the creature exposes a most enormous and 
terrific cavity, in which is placed a tongue eighteen 
or twenty feet in length, and capable of yielding 
five or six barrels of oil. A double pipe is situated 
on the head, through which the whale spouts water 
to a great height in the air. 
These inoffensive animals are not without their 
enemies ; for, independent of man, who, excited by 
avarice, ventures his life in the pursuit, they have a 
terrible foe to contend with in the sword-fish, which 
torments them without mercy. Mr. Anderson as- 
sures us, that at the sight of this little animal the 
whale seems agitated in an extraordinary man- 
ner, leaping from the water as if with affright ; 
wherever it appears the whale perceives it at a 
distance, and flies from it in the opposite direction. 
« I have been myself,” says Mr. Anderson, “ a 
spectator of their terrible encounter. The whale 
has no instrument of defence except the tail ; with 
that it endeavours to strike the enemy; and a single 
