men get upon the animal with a sort of iron spurs on their boots, (to prevent their slipping,) and separate the tail, which is hoisted on deck; they then cut out square pieces of blubber, weighing two or three thousand pounds each; which by means of the capstan, are also hoisted up. These are here cut into small pieces, which are thrown into the hold, and left for three or four days to drain. When all the blubber is cut from the belly of the fish, it is turned on one side, by means of a piece of blubber left in the middle, called the cant, or turning-piece. The men then

cut out this side, in large pieces, as before; and also the whale-bone, with the gums, which are preserved entire, and hoisted on deck, where the blades are cut and separated, and left till the men have time to scrape and clean them.

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'The Whale is next turned with its back upwards, and the blubber cut out from the back and crown bone; and they conclude the whole by cutting the blubber from the other side. But previously to letting the remainder of the body float away, they cut out the two large upper jawbones; which, being hoisted on deck, are cleansed and fastened to the shrouds, and tubs are placed under them to receive the oil which they discharge. This oil is a perquisite of the Captain.

In three or four days, they hoist the pieces of blubber out of the bold, chop them, and put them by in small pieces into the casks, through the bung-hole.

A whale, the longest blade of whose mouth

measures nine or ten feet, will yield about thirty butts of blubber; but some of the largest yield upwards of seventy.

One of the latter is generally worth about £1000. sterling: and a full ship, of three hundred tons burthen, will produce more than five thousand pounds from one voyage.

Premiums on every Whale that is taken, are given to all engaged. from the captain, even to the men who row the boats; which render them active in the service of their employers.

Mr. Anderson, in his Natural History of Iceland and Greenland, observes, from an account of the Dutch Whale Fishery for 46 years, ending in 1721, that in this time, that nation had employed five thousand eight hundred and eighty six ships, and caught thirty two thousand nine hundred and seven Whales; which, valued on an average at five hundred pounds each, give an amount for the whole value, of about sixteen millions sterling, gained out of the sea, mostly by the labour of the people; deducting the expence of the wear and tear of shipping the casks, and the provision.

The Whale fishery begins in May, and continues through the months of June and July; but whether the ships have had good or bad success, they must come away and get clear of the ice by the end of August; so that in the month of September, at furthest, they may be expected home. The more fortunate ships however return in June or July.

THE SWORD-FISH.

THE Sword-fish is a very large and powerful animal, ofttimes growing to the length of twenty feet and upwards. Its voracity is unbounded, for it attacks and destroys almost every thing living that comes in its way. The larger fish it penetrates with a long snout, which is in fact a hard sword-shaped continuation of the bone of the upper jaw, and so deadly is this weapon, that few, even of the largest monsters of the ocean, can either withstand or avoid its shoe.

The body of the Broad-finned Sword-fish, is round of a silvery bluish white, except the upper parts of the back, and the head and tail, which are of a deep brown. The skin is smooth, and without any appearance of scales; it inhabits the Brazilian and East Indian Sea, and also the Northern Ocean.

When his majesty's ship Leopard, after her return from the coast of Guinea and the WestIndies, was ordered, in 1725, to be cleaned and refitted for the Channel service, in stripping off her sheathing, the shipwrights found in her

bottom, pointing in a direction from the stern towards the head, part of the sword or snout of one of these fishes. On the outside, this was rough, not unlike seal-skin, and the end, where it was broken off, appeared like a coarse kind of ivory. The fish, from the direction in which the sword lay, is supposed to have followed the ship when under sail. It had penetrated through the sheathing, which was an inch thick, passed through three inches of a plank, and beyond that, four inches and a half into the timber. The force requisite to effect this, (since the vessel sailed in a direction from the fish,) must have been excessively great, especially as no shock was felt by the persons on board. The workmen on the spot declared that it would be impossible, with a hammer of a quarter of a hundred weight, to drive an iron pin of the same form and size into the wood, and to the same depth, in less than eight or nine strokes, whilst this had been effected by only one.

And about sixteen years ago, a letter was written to Sir Joseph Banks, as president to the Royal Society, from the captain of an EastIndiaman, accompanied with an account of another instance of the amazing strength which this fish occasionally exerts the bottom of his ship being pierced through in such a manner, that the sword was completely imbedded, or driven through its whole length, and the fish killed by the violence of the effort. A part of

the bottom of the vessel, with the sword imbedded in it, is now lodged in the British Museum.

The Sword-fish and the Whale are said never to meet without coming to battle; and the former has the reputation of being always the aggressor. Sometimes two of them join against one Whale; in which case the combat is by no means equal. The Whale uses his tail alone in his defence: he dives down into the water, head foremost, and makes such a blow with this, that, if it takes effect, destroys the Sword-fish at a stroke: but the other, who in general is sufficiently adroit to avoid it. immediately falls upon the Whale, and buries his weapon in his sides. When the Whale discovers the Sword-fish darting upon him, he dives to the bottom, but is closely pursued by his antagonist, who compels him again to rise to the surface. The battle begins afresh, and lasts until the Sword-fish loses sight of the Whale, who is at length compelled to swim off, which his superior agility allows him to do. In the Sword-fish piercing the Whale's body with the tremendous weapon at his snout, he seldom does any great damage to the animal, from not being able to penetrate much beyond the blubber.

The European Sword-fish has sometimes been found on the British coasts; and is very common in the Mediterranean.