"The mighty whales which swim in a sea of water, and have a sea of oil
swimming in them."
FULLLER'S PROFANE AND HOLY STATE.

"While the whale is floating at the stern of the ship, they cut off his head,
and tow it with a boat as near the shore as it will come; but it will be aground
in twelve or thirteen feet water."
THOMAS EDGE'S TEN VOYAGES TO SPITZBERGEN, IN PURCHAS.

"In their way they saw many whales sporting in the ocean, and in wantonness
fuzzing up the water through their pipes and vents, which nature has placed on
their shoulders."
SIR T. HERBERT'S VOYAGES INTO ASIA AND AFRICA.
HARRIS COLL.

"Here they saw such huge troops of whales, that they were forced to proceed
with a great deal of caution for fear they should run their ship upon them."
SCHOUTEN'S SIXTH CIRCUMNAVIGATION.

"We set sail from the Elbe, wind N. E. in the ship called The
Jonas-in-the-Whale. * * *
Some say the whale can't open his mouth, but that is a fable. * * *
They frequently climb up the masts to see whether they can see a whale, for
the first discoverer has a ducat for his pains. * * *
I was told of a whale taken near Shetland, that had above a barrel of
herrings in his belly. * * *
One of our harpooneers told me that he caught once a whale in Spitzbergen
that was white all over."
A VOYAGE TO GREENLAND, A.D. 1671
HARRIS COLL.

"Several whales have come in upon this coast (Fife) Anno 1652, one eighty
feet in length of the whale- bone kind came in, which (as I was informed),
besides a vast quantity of oil, did afford 500 weight of baleen. The jaws of it
stand for a gate in the garden of Pitferren."
SIBBALD'S FIFE AND KINROSS.

"Myself have agreed to try whether I can master and kill this Sperma-ceti
whale, for I could never hear of any of that sort that was killed by any man,
such is his fierceness and swiftness."
RICHARD STRAFFORD'S LETTER FROM THE BERMUDAS.
PHIL. TRANS. A.D. 1668.

"We saw also abundance of large whales, there being more in those southern
seas, as I may say, by a hundred to one; than we have to the northward of us."
CAPTAIN COWLEY'S VOYAGE ROUND THE GLOBE, A.D. 1729.

* * * * * "and the breath of the whale is frequendy attended with such an
insupportable smell, as to bring on a disorder of the brain."
ULLOA'S SOUTH AMERICA.

"If we compare land animals in respect to magnitude, with those that take up
their abode in the deep, we shall find they will appear contemptible in the
comparison. The whale is doubtless the largest animal in creation."
GOLDSMITH, NAT. HIST.