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rising to the surface in the remotest and most sullen waters; his straight and single lofty jet rising like a
tall misanthropic spear upon a barren plain; gifted with such wondrous power and velocity in swimming,
as to defy all present pursuit from man; this leviathan seems the banished and unconquerable Cain of
his race, bearing for his mark that style upon his back. From having the baleen in his mouth, the Fin-
Back is sometimes included with the right whale, among a theoretic species denominated Whalebone
whales, that is, whales with baleen. Of these so-called Whalebone whales, there would seem to be
several varieties, most of which, however, are little known. Broad-nosed whales and beaked whales; pike-
headed whales; bunched whales; under-jawed whales and rostrated whales, are the fisherman's names
for a few sorts. BOOK I. (Folio) CHAPTER IV. (Hump Back).- This whale is often seen on the northern American coast. He has been frequently captured there, and towed into harbor. He has a great pack on him like a peddler; or you might call him the Elephant and Castle whale. At any rate, the popular name for him does not sufficiently distinguish him, since the sperm whale also has a hump though a smaller one. His oil is not very valuable. He has baleen. He is the most gamesome and light-hearted of all the whales, making more gay foam and white water generally than any other of them. BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER V. (Razar Back).- Of this whale little is known but his name. I have seen him at a distance off Cape Horn. Of a retiring nature, he eludes both hunters and philosophers. Though no coward, he has never yet shown any part of him but his back, which rises in a long sharp ridge. Let him go. I know little more of him, nor does anybody else. BOOK I. (Folio), CHAPTER VI. (Sulphur Bottom).- Another retiring gentleman, with a brimstone belly, doubtless got by scraping along the Tartarian tiles in some of his profounder divings. He is seldom seen; at least I have never seen him except in the remoter southern seas, and then always at too great a distance to study his countenance. He is never chased; he would run away with rope-walks of line. Prodigies are told of him. Adieu, Sulphur Bottom! I can say nothing more that is true of ye, nor can the oldest Nantucketer. Thus ends BOOK I. (Folio), and now begins BOOK II. (Octavo). OCTAVOES.* These embrace the whales of middling magnitude, among which present may be numbered:- I., the Grampus; II., the Black Fish; III., the Narwhale; IV., the Thrasher; V., the Killer. - |
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