together in a most ingenious manner, with the sinews of animals instead of thread. When the men discover a whale, they strike it with their harpoons, to which are fastened lines or straps two or three fathoms long, made of seal-skin, having at the end a bag, formed of a whole seal-skin blown up. The huge animal, by means of the inflated bag, is in some degree compelled to keep near the surface of the water. When he is fa tigued and rises, the men attack him with their spears till he is killed. They now put on their spring-jackets, (made all in one piece of a dressed seal-skin,) with their boots, gloves, and caps, which are laced so tightly to each other that no water can penetrate them. In this garb, they plunge into the sea, and begin to slice off the fat all around the animal's body, even from those parts that are under water; and they have means of keeping themselves upright in the sea. They have sometimes been known so daring as, while the Whale was alive, to mount on his back and kill him from thence.

The flesh of the Whale is very dry and insipid, except about the tail, which is more juicy, but still more tasteless. The horny substance in the upper jaw, called whalebone, is very valuable, as an article of commerce; but these animals are principally pursued for their oil and blubber.

The seas that are principally inhabited by the great Whales, are those in about the seventieth de gree of north latitude, near Spitsbergen and

Greenland. These animals are likewise found in the seas of the high southern latitudes, and are said sometimes to visit the shores even of

countries near the torrid zone. They have been observed in the Mediterranean, and occasionally in the neighbourhood of the British coasts. Willoughby speaks of one that was stranded near Tinmouth, in Northumberland. In the year 1652, a great Whale, eighty feet in length, was cast ashore in the Firth of Forth, and about thirty years afterwards, another, somewhat more than seventy feet in length, near Peterhead in Scotland.

In the summer of 1814, a large Whale was killed near Howth, about six miles from Dublin; it is supposed, that the monster was attracted by a shoal of small fish, and that following his prey into shallow water, he was left by the tide aground upon the sands.-The fishermen collected, and after a desperate conflict, in which the Whale fought with the utmost fury. succeeded in putting him to death. This Whale measured about 32 feet in length, and 24 in height or thickness. The aperture of his mouth was about four feet his fat or blubber, when boiled, produced nearly 47 hogsheads of oil. The fishermen made a considerable sum by the sale of this oil, as well as by the exhibition of the Whale as a shew to numbers of people, who flocked from Dublin to view this extraordinary animal.

Taking the Whale at the ordinary size of 80

feet long, and twenty feet high, what an enormous animated mass must it not appear to the spectator? with what amazement must it strike him, to behold so great a creature gambolling in the deep, with the ease and agility of the smallest animal, and making its way with incredible swiftness? Yet tho' this be wonderful, perhaps still greater wonders are concealed in the deep, which man has not had opportunities of exploring these large animals are obliged to shew themselves in order to take breath.— but who knows the size of those that are fitted to remain for ever under water?

'There is another kind of Whale called the blunt-headed cachalot, or spermaceti Whale. The interior organization of this animal is somewhat different from that of the Whale, and requires a nourishment more substantial than small fish, and marine jelly-fish. These animals consequently attack and devour several of the larger kinds of fish and occasionally even Porpoises, Dolphins, and young Whales, which they are enabled to seize and tear in pieces by means of their teeth. They are not contented, like the Whales, with merely exerting their strength in self defence but will themselves provoke a combat with the larger inhabitants of the element in which they reside, and will attack and destroy them with the utmost vigour and address. Their ferocity and their muscular powers are such, that all the species are considered by the fishermen extreme

ly dangerous, and one or two of them, in particular, they are generally very cautious to avoid.-It is said that some of them, when they are attacked, will throw themselves on their back, and in that position will defend themselves with the mouth.

The length of this animal, when full grown, is about seventy feet, and its girth about fifty. When viewed from above, it appears like an immense animated mass, cut short, in front, so that the muzzle terminates in a somewhat squared, and almost perpendicular extremity. The head constitutes nearly one third of the whole body: the mouth is situated at the under part, and the under jaw is so small, in comparison with the upper, as to have somewhat the appearance of the lid or crown of an enormous box turned upside down. The tongue is small, but the throat is very formidable, and with "great case it could swallow an ox. In the stomach of the Whale, scarcely any thing is to be found; but in that of the Cachalot, there are loads of fish of different kinds; some whole, some half digested, some small, and others eight or nine feet long. The Cachalot is therefore as destructive among smaller fish, as the Whale is harmless, and can, at one gulp, swallow a shoal of fishes down its enormous gullet. The eyes are situated above the corners of the mouth, and are so minute, as to be scarcely perceptible. The breast fins are each about three feet in length. The tail is very

short and slender, each half of it being hollowed somewhat like the blade of a scythe. The skin is smooth, oily, and almost as soft to the touch as silk. Its colour is usually black.

The velocity with which these animals dart through the water is greater, and their progressive motion is performed by much more elevated bounds or curves, than those of many of the Whales. They generally swim in troops, consisting of a great number, both of male and females. In the month of March, 1784, there were 32 cast ashore at the same time, during a violent gale of wind, in the neighbourhood of Audierne, in France. Their bellowing was. heard to the distance of more than a league.Two men, who happened to be walking along the coast, not far from the place where the animals were stranded, not conceiving what they possibly could be, were thrown into the utmost agitation and alarm, at their noise, and on seeing them floundering in the shallow water, and beating about the sand and mud in all directions, at the same time occasionally throwing water from their breathing holes to an immense height, and with tremendous noise. They were all young animals, but the smallest of the whole measured upwards of thirty feet, and the largest nearly fifty feet in length. They were not able to regain the sea; but they continued alive on the sand for upwards of twenty-four hours.

Few animals, it has been mentioned, are more