Book III. 
INHABITANTS OF THE WATER. 
§ I. Cetacea, or Sea Mammalia. 
THE COMMON, OR GREENLAND WHALE. 
(Balama mysticetus.) 
" Nature's strange work, vast Whales of different form, 
Toss up the troubled flood, and are themselves a storm ; 
Uncouth the sight, when they in dreadful play, 
Discharge their nostrils, and refund a sea ; 
Or angry lash the foam with hideous sound, 
And scatter all the watery dust around ; 
Fearless, the fierce destructive monsters roll, 
Ingulf the fish, and drive the flying shoal ; 
In deepest seas these living isles appear, 
And deepest seas can scarce their pressure bear ; 
Their bulk would more than fill the shelvy strait, 
And fathom'd depths would yield beneath their weight." 
The Whale is not properly a fish ; since, though it lives 
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