has himself killed many of thefe Whales, affures me, that only the The Propoga- Their Care of their Young. Whales very gregarious. Refpiration. Their Care of their Young is very remarkable, they not only carrying them on their Tails, and fuckling them, but often rising with them for the Benefit of the Air; and however they are chafed or wounded, yet as long as they have Senfe, and perceive Life in their Young, they will never leave them, nor will they then ftrike with their Tail, and if, in their running, the young one lofes his Hold and drops off, the Dam comes about, and paffing underneath, takes it on again. And therefore Care is taken by thofe who kill these Mate Fish (as they are called) only to faften the Calf, but not to kill her, till they have firft fecured the Cow. For fo foon as ever the Calf is dead, the Cow perceives it, and grows fo violent, that there is no managing her. The Whales are very gregarious, being fometimes found a Hundred in a Scull, and are great Travellers. In the Fall of the Year, the Whale-bone Whales go Westward, and in the Spring they are headed Eastward. But here it must be noted, that the feveral Kinds of Whales do not mix with one another, but keep by themfelves. Their Way of Breathing is by two Spout-Holes in the Top of the Head. The Sperma Ceti has but one, and that on the left Side of the Head. Once in a Quarter of an Hour, when not difturbed, they are obferved to rife and blow, fpouting out Water and Wind, and to draw in fresh Air: but, when purfued, they will fometimes keep under under Water half an Hour or more; though it is obferved when any Cow has her Calf on her Tail, fhe rifes much oftner for the young one to breathe, without breathing herfelf. Out of their breathing Holes they spout great Quantities of Blood, when they have received their Death Wound. For the first Year they all fuck the Dam. After they are weaned, Their Food. the right Whales, as is generally fuppofed, live upon fome ouzy Matter, which they fuck up from the Bottom of the Sea. The Triers, that open them when dead, acquaint me, that they never observed any Grafs, Fish, or any other Sort of Food in the right or Whalebone Whale, but only a greyish foft Clay, which the People call Bole Armoniac; and yet an experienced Whale-man tells me, that he has feen this Whale in ftill Weather, skimming on the Surface of the Water, to take in a Sort of reddifh Spawn, or Brett, as fome call it, that at fome Times will lie upon the Top of the Water, for a Mile together. Here alfo it may be observed, that though the Body of this Whale is so very bulky, and fo exceeding fat; yet when cut open, they are seldom found to have much more Draught than that of an Ox, and they dung much as neat Cattle do. Their Swallow is not much bigger than an Ox's; but the Finback Whale has a larger Swallow: for he lives upon the fmaller Fish, as Mackarel, Herring, &c. great Sculls of which they run through, and, with a fhort Turn, cause an Eddy or Whirlpool, by the Force of which, the small Fish are brought into a Clufter; fo that this Fish, with open Mouth, will take in fome Hundreds of them at a Time. The Sperma Ceti Whale, besides other Fish, feeds much upon a small Fish that has a Bill; our Fishermen call them Squid Fish. The fmall Peices of these Squid Bills are plainly to be difcerned in the Ambergris, and may be picked out of it; they appear glazy,, and like little Pieces of broken Shells. Mr Harris in his Bibliotbeca Navigantium, &c. has given a very par- The way of kill ticular Account of the Method of taking Whales at Greenland, and ing Whales. though our way in New England differs very much from that, yet I fhall wave it, as not fo ftrictly appertaining to Philofophy. Only I would take notice of the Boats our Whale-men ufe in going from the Shoar after the Whale, They are made of Cedar Clapboards, and fo very light, that two Men can conveniently carry them, and yet they are twenty Feet long, and carry fix Men, viz. the Harponeer in the Fore-part of the Boat, four Oar-men, and the Steerfman. These Boats run very swift, and by reafon of their Lightnefs can be brought on and off, and fo kept out of Danger. The Whale is fometimes killed with a fingle Stroke, and yet at other Times fhe will hold the Whale-men in Play, near half a Day together, with their Lances, and fometimes will get away after they have been lanced and fpouted Blood, with Irons in them, and Drugs faften'd to them, which are thick Boards about fourteen Inches fquare. Our People formerly used to kill the Whale near the Shore; but now they go off VOL. VII. Part iii. D to Sea in Sloops and Whale boats, in the Months of May, June, and July, between Cape-Cod and Bermudas; where they lie by in the Night, and fail to and again in the Day, and feldom mifs of them; they bring home the Blubber in their Sloops. The true Seafon, for taking the right or Whalebone Whale, is from the Beginning of February, to the End of May; for the Sperma Ceti Whale, from the Beginning of June, to the End of August. And it has been obferved by our Fishermen, that when a Sperma Ceti Whale is ftruck, he ufually, if not always, throws the Excrements out of the Anus. Their prodigi- The wonderful, and even prodigious, Strength of this Creature, eus Strength. lies principally in their Tail, that being both their offenfive and defenfive Weapon. Many Inftances of this Kind I have had from credible Perfons, who were Eye-witneffes; I will mention but a few. A Boat has been cut down from Top to Bottom with the Tail of a Whale, as if cut with a Saw, the Clap-boards fcarce fplintered, tho' the Gunnel upon the Top is of tough Wood. Another has had the Stem, or Stern-poft of about three Inches through, and of the tougheft Wood that can be found, into which the Ends of the Cedar Clapboards are nailed, cut off fmooth above the Cuddee, without fo much as fhattering the Boat, or drawing the Nails of the Clapboards. An Oar has been cut off with a Stroke upwards, and yet not fo much as lifted up out of the Thole-pin. One Perfon had an Oar cut off, while in his Hand, and yet never felt any Jarring. Their Enemies. A few Years fince, one of the Fin-back Whales came into a Harbour near Cape Cod, and towed away a Sloop of near forty Tun, out of the Harbour into the Sea. This Accident happened thus: It is thought the Whale was rubbing herfelf upon the Fluke of the Anchor, or going near the Bottom, got the Fluke into her Nifket, or the Orifice of the Uterus, and finding herself caught, tore away with fuch Violence, that fhe towed the Ship out of the Harbour, as fast as if she had been under Sail with a good Gale of Wind, to the Aftonishment of the People on Shore, for there was nobody on board. When the Whale came into deep Water, he went under, and had like to have carried the Sloop with her, but the Cable gave Way, and fo the Boats that were out after her, recovered it. This Whale was found dead fome Days after on that Shore, with the Anchor sticking in her Belly. After a Whale is dead, it has been obferved, that the fame way the Head lies, fo the Head will lie if not forcibly turned, and let the Wind blow which Way it will, that Way they will fcull a Head, tho' right in the Eye of the Wind, and they are much easier towed to the Shore, if they die that Way with their Head, than any other. The Enemies of the Whale, or the Fish that prey upon the Whales, and often kill the young ones, for they will not venture upon an old one, unless much wounded. Our Whale-men have given this Fish Fish the Name of Killers. Thefe Killers are from twenty to thirty Feet long, and have Teeth in both Jaws that lock one within another. They have a Fin, near the middle of their Backs, four or five Foot long. They go in Company by Dozens, and fet upon a young Whale, and will bait him like fo many Bull-dogs; fome will lay hold of his Tail to keep him from threfhing, while others lay hold of his Head, and bite and threfh him, till the poor Creature, being thus heated, lolls out his Tongue, and then fome of the Killers catch hold of his Lips, and if poffible of his Tongue; and after they have killed him, they chiefly feed upon the Tongue and Head, but when he begins to putrify, they leave him. This Killer is without doubt the Orca, that Dr Frangius defcribes in his Treatife of Animals. His Words are thefe, Quando Orca infequitur Balenam, ipfa Balana borribilem edit Mugitum, non aliter quam cum Taurus mordetur a Cane. Thefe Killers are of fuch invincible Strength, that when feveral Boats together have been towing a dead Whale, one of them has come and faftened his Teeth in her, and carried her away down to the Bottom in an Instant. And fometimes they have bit out a Piece of Blubber of about two Het Foot square, which is of that Toughnefs, that an Iron, with little Beards being stuck into it, will hold it till it draws the Boat under Water. The Killers are fometime taken, and make good Oil, but have no Whale-bone. The Carcafes of Whales in the Sea, ferve for Food for Gulls, and other Sea Fowl, as well as Sharks, for they are not very nice. Many and various have been the Opinions even of the learned Ambergris. World, as to the Origin and Nature of Ambergris; fome have reckoned it a Bitumen, and to iffue from the Entrails of the Earth; others that it was produced from fome Infect, as Honey, Silk, &c. The famous Mr Boyle, as I find it, in the Second Volume of Lowthorp's Abridgment of the Philofophical Tranfactions, communicates an Account of Ambergris, from a Dutch Merchant, who first denies it to be the Scum or Excrement of a Whale, and then gives it, as his Opinion, that it is a fat Gum that iffues from the Root of a Tree, and that you may raise it in Quantities by planting thofe Trees by the Shore, and fo the Stream will caft it up to great Advantage. But it is now found out, that this Occultum Nature is an Animal Production, and bred in the Body of the Sperma Ceti Whale, analogous to what is found in fome Animals of the Land, as the Musk Hog or Taiacu, the Musk Deer, the Bezoar Sheep, and fome Amphibious Animals, as the Mufquafh, &c. who have their valuable Scent in a particular Cyflis or Bag. I am apt to think, that which firft gave Occafion to the Notion of Ambergris being the Production of the Whale, was because it was found in confiderable Quantities on the Shores of the Summer Islands, and among the Babama's, where the dead Whales are frequently wreck'd and broke up with the Sea, and the Ambergris found floating, or on the Shore; but here again, the Ingenious, un D 2 til til very lately, were at a Lofs, and divided in Opinion, for though they agreed it to come from the Whale, yet fome took it to be the true and proper Semen, being found only in the Bull, at the Root of the Penis, near the Tefticles; others again thought it was the Ordure or Excrement of the Whale. The best and most exact Account of Ambergris, that I have been able to procure, I very lately received from one Mr Atkins, now an Inhabitant at Boston in New England, who ufed the Whale Fishery, for ten or twelve Years together, and was one of the first that went out a fishing for the Sperma Ceti Whales, about the Year 1670, and then began to difcover the Ambergris; and being a fober ingenious Man, what he fays may fafely be depended on; tho', for Subftance, I have had it from several of the Whale-men. His Relation, which was taken a few Days fince from his own Mouth, is as follows: 66 "The Ambergris is found only in the Sperma Ceti Whales, and "confifts of Balls, or globular Bodies, of various Sizes, from about "three Inches to twelve Inches Diameter, and will weigh from a Pound "and an Half to twenty two Pounds, lying loofe in a large oval Bag, or Bladder, of three or four Foot long, and two or three Foot "deep and wide, almost in the Form of an Ox's Bladder, only the "Ends more acute, or like a Blacksmith's long Bellows, with a "Spout running tapering into and through the Length of the Penis, " and a Duct, or Canal, opening into the other End of the Bag, and "coming from towards the Kidnies; this Bag lies juft over the Tefticles, which are above a Foot long, and is placed lengthways "at the Root of the Penis, about four or five Foot below the Navel, "and three or four Foot above the Anus. This Bag or Bladder is "almoft full of a deep Orange coloured Liquor, not quite fo thick "as Oil, and smelling ftrong, or rather ftronger of the fame Scent "with the Balls of Ambergris, which float and fwim loofe in it; the "Infide of the Bag is very deeply tinged with the fame Colour as the the Liquor, which may also be found in the Canal of the Penis; "the Balls feem to be pretty hard while the Whale is alive, inasmuch as there are many Times found upon opening the Bag, large concave Shells, of the fame Subftance and Confiftence, that have fcaled off "from them, and the Balls themselves feem to be compofed of fe"veral diftinct Coats inclofing one another, fomething like the Coats " of an Onion.” As to the Number of Balls, Mr Atkins never found above four in a Bag, and in the Bag where he found one that weighed 21 Pounds, which was the largest he ever faw, there was no other. He further fays, "That to one Sperma Ceti Whale that has any of thefe Balls, there are two, that have nothing but the deep Orange"coloured Liquor aforefaid in their Bags." This Remark confirms what another Whale-man told me, "That the Ambergris was found only |