favour of that historian's veracity, and were shown among the most precious remains of Antiquity. Even for some time after the narwhale was known the deceit was continued, as those who were possessed of a tooth sold it to great advantage. But at present they are too well known to deceive any, and are only shown for what they really are their curiosity increasing in proportion to their weight and their size.

CHAP. V.

OF THE CACHALOT AND ITS VARIETIES.

The cachalot, which has generally gone under the name of the spermaceti-whale, till Mr. Pennant very properly made the distinction by borrowing its name from the French, has several teeth in the under-jaw, but none in the upper. As there are no less than seven distinctions among whales, so also there are the same number of distinctions in the tribe we are describing the cachalot with two fins and a black back-the cachalot with two fins and a whitish back-that with a spout in the neck-that with a spout in the snout-that with three fins and sharp-pointed teeth-that with three fins and sharp-edged teeth-and, lastly, the cachalot with three fins and flatted teeth.

This tribe is not of such enormous size as the whale, properly so called, not being above sixty feet long, and sixteen feet high. In consequence of their being more slender, they are much more active than the common whale; they remain a longer time at the bottom, and afford a smaller quantity of oil. As in the common whale the head was seen to make a third part of its bulk, so in this species the head is so large as to make one half of the whole. The tongue of this animal is small, but the throat is very formidable; and with very great ease it could swallow an ox. In the stomach of the whale scarce anything 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 lesser fishes as the whale is harmless; and can at one gulp swallow a shoal of fishes down its enormous gullet. Linnæus tells us that this fish pursues and terrifies the dolphins and porpoises so much as often to drive them on shore.

But how formidable soever this fish may be to its fellows of the deep, it is by far the most valuable and the most sought after by man, as it contains two very precious drugs-spermaceti and ambergris. The use of these, either for the purposes of luxury or medicine, is so universal, that the capture of this animal (which alone supplies them) turns out to very great advantage, particularly since the art has been found out of converting all the oil of this animal as well as the brain into that substance called spermaceti.

This substance as it is naturally formed is found in the head of the animal, and is no other than the brain. The outward skin of the head being taken off, a covering of fat offers about three inches thick; and under that, instead of a bony skull, the animal has only another thick skin that serves for a covering and defence of the brain. The first cavity or chamber of the brain is filled with that spermaceti which is supposed of the greatest purity and highest value. From this cavity there is generally drawn about seven barrels of the clearest spermaceti, which, thrown upon water, coagulates like cheese. Below this there is another chamber just over the gullet, which is about seven feet high; and this also contains the drug, but of less value. It is distributed in this cavity, like honey in a hive, in small cells, separated from each other by a membrane like the inner-skin of an egg. In proportion as the oily substance is drawn away

from this part it fills anew from every part of the body; and from this is generally obtained about nine barrels of oil. Besides this, the spinal-marrow, which is about as thick as a man's thigh, and reaches all along the back-bone to the tail, where it is no thicker than one's finger, affords no inconsiderable quantity..

This substance, which is used in the composition of many medicines rather to give them consistence than efficacy, was at first sold at a very high price, both from the many virtues ascribed to it and the small quantity that the cachalot was capable of supplying; at present the price is greatly fallen; first, because its efficacy in medicine is found to be very small, and again, because the whole oil of the fish is very easily convertible into spermaceti. This is performed by boiling it with a lea of pot-ash, and hardening it in the manner of soap. Caudles are now made of it, which are substituted for wax and sold much cheaper; so that we need not fear having our spermaceti adulterated in the manner some medical books caution us to beware of; for they carefully guard us against having our spermaceti adulterated with virgin's wax.

As to the ambergris which is sometimes found in this whale, it was long considered as a substance found floating on the surface of the sea; but time, that reveals the secrets of the mercenary, has discovered that it chiefly belongs to this animal. The name, which has been improperly given to the former substance, seems more justly to belong to this; for the ambergris is found in the place where the seminal vessels are usually situated in other animals. It is fouud in a bag of three or four feet long, in round lumps from one to twenty pounds weight, floating in a fluid rather thinner than oil, and of a yellowish colour. There are never seen more than four at a time in one of these bags; and that which weighed twenty pounds, and which was the largest ever seen, was found single. These balls of ambergris are not found in all fishes of this kind, but chiefly in the oldest and strongest. The uses of this medicine for the purpose of luxury and as a perfume are well known; though upon some subjects ignorance is preferable to information.

All these fish have teeth both in the upper and the lower jaw, and are much less than the whale. The grampus, which is the largest, never exceeds twenty feet. It may also be distinguished by the flatness of its head, which resembles a boat upside down. The porpoise resembles the grampus in most things except the snout, which is not above eight feet long; its snout also more resembles that of a hog. The dolphin has a strong resemblance to the porpoise, except that its snout is longer and more pointed. They have all fins on the back; they all have heads very large, like the rest of the whale kind, and resemble each other in their appetites, their manners, and their conformations, being equally voracious, active, and roving.

The great agility of these animals prevents their often being taken. They seldom remain a moment above water; sometimes, indeed, their too eager pursuits expose them to danger; and a shoal of herrings often allures them out of their depth. In such a case the hungry animal continues to flounder in the shallows till knocked on the head, or till the returning tide seasonably comes to its relief. But all this tribe, and the dolphin in particular, are not less swift than destructive. No fish could escape them but from the awkward position of the mouth, which is placed in a manner under the

head; yet, even with these disadvantages, their depredations are so great that they have been justly styled the plunderers of the deep.

What could induce the ancients to a predilection in favour of these animals, particularly the dolphin, it is not easy to account for. Historians and philosophers seem to have contended who should invent the greatest number of fables concerning them. The dolphin was celebrated in the earliest time for its fondness to the human race, and was distinguished by the epithets of the boy-loving and philanthropist. Scarce an accident could happen at sea but the dolphin offered himself to convey the unfortunate to shore. The musician flung into the sea by pirates-the boy taking an airing into the midst of the sea, and returning again in safety, were obliged to the dolphin for its services. It is not easy, I say, to assign a cause why the ancients should thus have invented so many fables in their favour. The figure of these animals is far from prejudicing us in their interest; their extreme rapacity tends still less to endear them; I know nothing that can reconcile them to man and excite his prejudices, except that when taken they sometimes have a plaintive moan, with which they continue to express their pain till they expire. This at first might have excited human pity; and that might have produced affection. At present these fishes are regarded even by the vulgar in a very different light; their appearance is far from being esteemed a favourable omen by the seamen; and from their boundings, springs, and frolics in the water, experience has taught the mariners to prepare for a storm.

But it is not to one circumstance only that the ancients have confined their fabulous reports concerning these animals; as from their leaps out of their element they assume a temporary curvature, which is by no means their natural figure in the water, the old painters and sculptors have universally drawn them wrong. A dolphin is scarce ever exhibited by the ancients in a straight shape, but curved, in the position which they sometimes appear in when exerting their force; and the poets, too, have adopted the general error. Even Pliny, the best naturalist, has asserted that they instantly die when taken out of the water; but Rondelet, on the contrary, assures us that he has seen a dolphin carried alive from Montpelier to Lyons.

The moderns have more just notions of these animals, and have got over the many fables which every day's experience contradicts. Indeed, their numbers are so great, and, though shy, they are so often taken, that such peculiarities, if they were possessed of any, would have been long since ascertained. They are found, the porpoise especially, in such vast numbers in all parts of the sea that surrounds this kingdom, that they are sometimes noxious to seamen when they sail in small vessels. In some places they almost darken the water as they rise to take breath, and particularly before bad weather are much agitated, swimming against the as they rise to take breath, and particularly before wind, and tumbling about with unusual violence.

Whether these motions be the gambols of pleasure or the agitations of terror is not well known. It is most probable that they dread those scenes of turbulance, when the lesser fishes shrink to the bottom, and their prey no longer offers in sufficient abundance. In times of fairer weather they are seen herding together, and pursuing shoals of various fish with great impetuosity. Their method of hunting their game, if it may be so called, is to follow in a pack, and thus give each other mutual assistance. At that season when the mackarel, the herring, the salmon, and other fish of passage begin to make their appearance, the cetaceous tribes are seen fierce in pursuit, urging their prey from one creek or bay to another, deterring them from the shallows, driving them towards each other's ambush, and using a greater variety of arts than hounds are seen to exert

in pursuing the hare. However, the porpoise not only seeks for prey near the surface, but often descends to the bottom in search of sand-eels and sea-worms, which it roots out of the sand with its nose, in the manner hogs harrow up the fields for food. For this purpose the nose projects a little, is shorter and stronger than that of the dolphin; and the neck is furnished with very strong muscles, which enable it the readier to turn up the sand. But it sometimes happens that the impetuosity or the hunger of these animals in their usual pursuits urges them beyond the limits of safety. The fishermen, who extend their long nets for pilchards on the coasts of Cornwall, have sometimes an unwelcome capture in one of these. Their feeble nets, which are calculated only for taking smaller prey, suffer an universal laceration from the efforts of this strong animal to escape; and if it be not knocked on the head before it has had time to flounder, the nets are destroyed and the fishery interrupted. There is nothing, therefore, that they so much dread as the entangling a purpoise; and they do everything to intimidate the animal from approaching. Indeed, these creatures are so violent in the pursuit of their prey, that they sometimes follow a shoal of small fishes up a fresh-water river, from whence they find no small difficulty to return. We have often seen them taken in the Thames at London, both above the bridges and below them. It is curious enough to observe with what activity they avoid their pursuers, and what little time they require to fetch breath above the water. The manner of killing them is for four or five boats to spread over a part of the river in which they are seen, and with fire-arms to shoot at them the instant they rise above the water. The fish being thus for some time kept in agitation, requires to come to the surface at quicker intervals, and thus affords the marksmen more frequent opportunities.

When the porpoise is taken it becomes no inconsiderable capture, as it yields a very large quantity of oil; and the lean of some, particularly if the animal be young, is said to be as well tasted as veal. The inhabitants of Norway prepare from the eggs found in the body of this fish a kind of caviare, which is said to be very delicate sauce, or good wheu even eaten with bread. There is a fishery for porpoises along the western isles of Scotland during the summer season, when they abound on that shore; and this branch of industry turns to good advantage.

As for the rest, we are told that these animals go with young ten months; that, like the whale, they seldom bring forth above one at a time, and that in the midst of summer; that they live to a considerable age, though some say not above twenty-five or thirty years; and they sleep with the snout above water. They seem to possess, in a degree proportioned to their bulk, the manners of whales; and the history of one species of cetaceous auimals will in a great measure serve for all the rest.

BOOK II.-CHAP. I.

OF CARTILAGINOUS FISHES IN GENERAL.

We have seen the fishes of the cetaceous kind bear a strong resemblance to quadrupeds in their conformation; those of the cartilaginous kinds are one remove separated from them: they form the shade that completes the imperceptible gradations of Nature.

The first great distinction they exhibit is, in having cartilages or gristles instead of bones. The cetaceous tribes have their bones entirely resembling those of quadrupeds-thick, white, and filled with marrow; those of the spinous kind, on the contrary, have small ones, with points resembling thorns, and generally solid throughout. Fishes of the cartilaginous kinds have

their bones always soft and yielding; and age, that hardens the bones of other animals, rather contributes still more to soften theirs. The size of all fishes increase with age; but from the pliancy of the bones in this tribe they seem to have no bound placed to their dimensions; and it is supposed that they grow larger every day till they die.

They have other differences, more obviously discernible. We have observed that the cetaceous tribes had lungs like quadrupeds, a heart with its partition in the same manner, and apparatus for hearing; on the other hand, we mentioned that the spinous kinds had no organs of hearing, no lungs to breathe through, and no partition in the heart; but that their cold red blood was circulated by means of the impulse made upon their gills by the water. Cartilaginous fishes unite both these systems in their conformation: like the cetaceous tribes, they have organs of hearing, and lungs; like the spinous kinds they have gills, and a heart without a partition. Thus possessed of a two-fold power of breathing-sometimes by means of their lungs, sometimes by that of their gills—they seem to unite all the advantages of which their situation is capable, and draw from both elements every aid to their necessities or their enjoyments.

This double capacity of breathing in these animals is one of the most remarkable features in the history of Nature. The apertures by which they breathe are placed somewhere about the head-either beneath, as in a flat fish; on the sides, as in sharks; or on the top of the head, as in pipe-fish. To these apertures the gills are affixed, but without any bone to open or shut them as in spinous fishes, from which by this mark they can easily be distinguished, though otherwise very much alike in appearance. From these are bending cylindrical ducts, that run to the lungs, and are supposed to convey the air that gives the organs their proper play. The heart, however, has but one valve; so that their blood wants that double circulation which obtains in the cetaceous kinds; and the lungs seem to me rather as an internal assistant to the gills than fitted for supplying the same offices in quadrupeds, for they want the pulmonary vein and artery.

From this structure, however, the animal is enabled to live a longer time out of water than those whose gills are more simple. The cartilaginous shark, or ray, live some hours after they are taken; while the spinous herring or mackarel expire in a few minutes after they are brought on shore. From hence this tribe seems possessed of powers that other fishes are wholly deprived of; they can remain continually under water without even taking breath while they can venture their heads above the deep, and continue for hours out of their native element.

We observed in a former chapter that spinous fishes have not, or at least appear not to have, externally any instruments of generation. It is very different with those of a cartilaginous kind, for the male always has these instruments double. The fish of this tribe are not unfrequently seen to copulate; and their manner is belly to belly-such as may naturally be expected from animals whose parts of generation are placed forward. They in general choose colder seasons and situations than other fish for propagating their kind; and many of them bring forth in the midst of winter.

The same duplicity of character which marks their general conformation obtains also with regard to their manner of bringing forth. Some bring forth their young alive, and some bring forth eggs which are afterwards brought to maturity. In all, however, the manner of gestation is nearly the same; for upon dissection it is ever found that the young while in the body continue in the egg till a very little time before they are excluded; these eggs they may properly be said to hatch within their body; and as soon as their young quit the

shell they begin to quit the womb also. Unlike to quadrupeds or the cetaceous tribes, that quit the egg a few days after their first conception, and continue in the womb several months after, these continue in the body of the female in their egg state for weeks together; and the eggs are found linked together by a membrane, from which, when the foetus gets free, it continues but a very short time till it delivers itself from its confinement in the womb. The eggs themselves consist of a white and a yolk, and have a substance instead of shell that aptly may be compared to softened horn. These, as I observed, are sometimes hatched in the womb as in the shark and ray kinds; and they are sometimes excluded, as in the sturgeon, before the animal comes to its time of disengaging. Thus we see that there seems very little difference between the viviparous and the oviparous kinds in this class of fishes; the one hatch their eggs in the womb, and the young continue no long time there; the others exclude their eggs before hatching, and leave it to time and accident to bring their young to maturity.

Such are the peculiar marks of the cartilaginous class of fishes, of which there are many kinds. To give a distinct description of every fish is as little my intention as perhaps it is the wish of the reader: but the peculiarities of each kind deserve notice, and the most striking of these it would be unpardonable to omit.

Cartilaginous fish may be divided, first, into those of the shark kind, with a body growing less towards the tail, a rough skin, with the mouth placed far beneath the end of the nose, five apertures on the sides of the neck for breathing, and the upper part of the tail longer than the lower. This class chiefly comprehends the great white shark, the balance-fish, the hound-fish, the monk-fish, the dog-fish, the basking shark, the zygana, the tope, the cat-fish, the blue shark, the sea-fox, the smooth hound-fish, and the porbeagle. These are all of the same nature, and differ more in size than in figure or conformation.

The next division is that of the flat fish; and these, from their broad, flat, thin shape, are sufficiently distinguishable from all others of this kind. They may be easily distinguished, also, from spinous flat fish by the holes through which they breathe, which are uncovered by a bone, and which in this kind are five on each side. In this tribe we may place the torpedo, the skate, the sharp-nosed ray, the rough ray, the thornback, and the fire-flare.

The third divison is that of the slender snake-shaped kind; such as the lamprey, the pride, and the pipe-fish. The fourth division is of the sturgeon and its variety, the isinglass fish.

The last division may comprise fish of different figures and natures that do not rank under the former divisions. These are the sun-fish, the tetrodon, the lump-fish, the sea-snail, the chimæra, and the fishing-frog. Each of these has something peculiar in its powers or its form that deserves to be remarked. The description of these at least may compensate for our general ignorance of the rest of their history.

CHAP. II.

OF CARTILAGINOUS FISHES OF THE SHARK KIND.

Of all the inhabitants of the deep, those of the shark kind are the fiercest and most voracious. The smallest of the tribe is not less dreaded by greater fish than many that to appearance seem more powerful; nor do any of them seem fearful of attacking animals far above their size; but the great white shark, which is the largest of the kind, joins to the most amazing rapidity the strongest appetites for mischief: he far surpasses the

whale in strength and celerity, in the formidable arrangement of his teeth, and in his insatiable desire of plunder.

The white shark is sometimes seen to rank even among whales for magnitude, and is found from twenty to thirty feet long. Some assert that they have seen them of four thousand pounds' weight; and we are told particularly of one that had a human corpse in his belly. The head is large, and somewhat flattened; the snout long, and the eyes large. The mouth is enormous, as is the throat, and capable of swallowing a man with great ease. But its furniture of teeth is still more terrible; of these there are six rows, extremely hard, sharppointed, and of a wedge-like figure. It is asserted that there are seventy-two in each jaw, which make one hundred and forty-four in the whole; yet others think that their number is uncertain; and that, in proportion as the animal grows older, these terrible instruments of destruction are found to increase. With these the jaws both above and below appear planted all over; but the animal has a power of erecting or depressing them at pleasure. When the shark is at rest they lie quite flat in his mouth; but when he prepares to seize his prey, he erects all this dreadful apparatus by the help of a set of muscles that join them to the jaw; and the animal he seizes dies, pierced with a hundred wounds in a

moment.

Nor is this fish less terrble to behold as is the rest of his form his fins are larger in proportion; he is furnished with great goggle-eyes, which he turns with ease on every side, so as to see his prey behind him as well as before; and his whole aspect is marked with a character of malignity: his skin, also, is rough, hard, and prickly-from which that substance which covers instrument cases, called shagreen, is manufactured.

As the shark is thus formidable in his appearance, so is he also dreadful from his courage and activity. No fish can swim so fast as he-none so constantly employed in swimming: he outstrips the swiftest ships, plays round them, darts out before them, returns, seems to gaze at the passengers, and all the while does not seem to exhibit the smallest symptoms of an effort to proceed. Such amazing powers, with such great appetites for destruction, would quickly unpeople even the ocean, but, providentially, the shark's upper-jaw projects so far above the lower, that he is obliged to turn on one side (not on his back, as is generally supposed) to seize his prey. As this takes some small time to perform, the animal pursued seizes that opportunity to make its

escape.

Still, however, the depredations he commits are frequent and formidable. The shark is the dread of sailors in all hot climates; where, like a greedy robber, he attends the ships, in expectation of what may drop overboard. A man who unfortunately falls into the sea at such a time is almost sure to perish without mercy. A sailor that was bathing in the Mediterranean, near Antibes, while he was swimming about fifty yards from the ship, perceived a monstrous fish making towards him, and surveying him on every side, as fish are often seen to look round a bait. The poor man, struck with terror at its approach, cried out to his companions in the vessel to take him on board. They accordingly threw him a rope with the utmost expedition, and were drawing him up by the ship's side, when the shark darted after him from the deep and snapped off his leg.

Mr. Pennant tells us that the master of a Guineaship, finding a rage for suicide prevail among his slaves (from a notion the unhappy creatures had that after death they should be restored again to their families, friends, and country), to convince them at least that some disgrace should attend them here, he ordered one of their dead bodies to be tied by the heels to a rope, and so let down into the sea; and, though it was drawn up again with great swiftness, yet in that short space

the sharks had bitten off all but the feet. Whether this story is prior to an accident of the kind which happened at Belfast, in Ireland, a few years ago, I will not take upon me to determine; but certain it is, there are some circumstances alike in both, though more terrible in that I am going to relate. A Guinea captain was, by stress of weather, driven into the harbour of Belfast with a lading of very sickly slaves, who, in the manner abovementioned, took every opportunity to throw themselves over-board when brought upon-deck, as is usual, for the benefit of the fresh air. The captain, perceiving, among others, a woman-slave attempting to drown herself, pitched upon her as a proper example to the rest. As he supposed that they did not know the terrors attending death, he ordered the woman to be tied with a rope under the armpits, and so let her down into the water. When the poor creature was thus plunged in, and when about half way down, she was heard to give a terrible shriek, which at first was ascribed to her fears of drowning; but soon after the water appearing red all round her, she was drawn up, and it was found that a shark, which had followed the ship, had bit her off from the middle.

Such is the frightful rapacity of this animal; nothing that has life is rejected. But it seems to have a peculiar enmity to man: when once it has tasted human flesh it never desists from haunting those places where it expects the return of its prey. It is even asserted that along the coasts of Africa, where these animals are found in great abundance, numbers of the Negroes, who are obliged to frequent the waters, are seized and devoured by them every year. The people of these coasts are firmly of opinion that the shark loves the black man's flesh in preference to the white, and that when men of different colours are in the water together it always makes choice of the former.

However this be, men of all colours are equally afraid of this animal, and have contrived different methods to destroy him. In general, they derive their success from the shark's own rapacity. The usual method of our sailors to take him is by baiting a great hook with a piece of beef or pork, which is thrown out into the sea by a strong cord, strengthened near the hook with an iron chain. Without this precaution the shark would quickly bite the cord in two, and thus set himself free. It is no unpleasant amusement to observe this voracious animal coming up to survey the bait, particularly when not pressed by hunger. He approaches it, examines it, swims round it, seems for a while to neglect it, perhaps apprehensive of the cord and the chain: he quits it for a little; but his appetite pressing, he returns again; appears preparing to devour it, but quits it once more. When the sailors have sufficiently diverted themselves with his different evolutions, they then make a pretence by drawing the rope, as if intending to take the bait away; it is then that the glutton's hunger excites him; he dart's at the bait and swallows it, hook and all. Sometimes, however, he does not so entirely gorge the whole but that he once more gets free; yet even then, though wounded and bleeding with the hook, he will again pursue the bait until he is taken. When he finds the hook lodged in his maw his utmost efforts are then excited, but in vain, to get free; he tries with his teeth to cut the chain; he pulls with all his force to break the line; he almost seems to turn his stomach inside out to disgorge the hook: in this manner he continues his formidable though fruitless efforts, till, quite spent, he suffers his head to be drawn above water, and the sailors, confining his tail by a noose, in this manner draw him on ship-board and despatch him. This is done by beating him on the head till he dies; yet even this is not effected without difficulty and danger; the enormous creature, terrible even in the agonies of death, still struggles with his destroyers; nor is there an animal in the world that is harder to be killed. Even

when cut to pieces the muscles still preserve their motion, and vibrate for some minutes after being separated from the body. Another method of taking him is by striking a barbed instrument called the fizgig into his body as he brushes along by the side of the ship. As soon as he is taken up, to prevent his flouncing, they cut off the tail with an axe with the utmost expedition.

This is the manner in which Europeans destroy the shark; but some of the Negroes along the African coast take a bolder and more dangerous method to combat their terrible enemy. Armed with nothing more than a knife, the Negro plunges into the water, where he sees the shark watching for his prey, and boldly swims forward to meet him; though the great animal does not come to provoke the combat, he does not avoid it, and suffers the man to approach him; but just as he turns upon his side to seize the aggressor, the Negro watches the opportunity, plunges his knife into the fish's belly, and pursues his blows with such success, that he lays the ravenous tyrant deadat the bottom. The Negro then fixes the fish's head in a noose, and drags him to shore, where he makes a noble feast for the adjacent villages.

Nor is man alone the only enemy this fish has to fear the remora, or sucking-fish, is probably a still greater, and follows the shark everywhere. This fish has got a power of adhering to whatever it sticks against in the same manner as a cupping-glass sticks to the human body. It is by such an apparatus that this animal sticks to the shark and drains away its moisture. The seamen, however, are of opinion that it is seen to attend on the shark for more friendly purposes, to point him to his prey, and to apprise him of his danger. For this reason it has been called the shark's pilot.

The shark so much resembles the whale in size, that some have injudiciously ranked it in the class of cetaceous fishes: but its real rank is in the place here as signed it-among those of the cartilaginous kind. It breathes with gills and lungs; its bones are gristly, and it bringeth forth several living young; Belonius assures us that he saw a female shark produce eleven live young ones at a time. But I will not take upon me to vouch for the veracity of Rondeletius, who, when talking of the blue shark, says that the female will permit her small brood when in danger to swim down her mouth, and take shelter in her belly. Mr. Pennant, indeed, seems to give credit to the story, and thinks that this fish, like the opossum, may have a place fitted by Nature for the reception of her young. To his opinion much deference is due, and is sufficient at least to make us suspend our assent; for nothing is so contemptible as that affectation of wisdom which some display by universal incredulity.

Mr.

Upon the whole, a shark when living is a very formidable animal, and when dead is of very little value. The flesh is hardly digestible by any but the Negroes, who are fond of it to distraction; the liver affords three or four quarts of oil; some imaginary virtues have been ascribed to the brain; and its skin is by great labour polished into that substance called shagreen. Pennant is of opinion that the female is larger than the male in all this tribe; which would, if confirmed by experience, make a striking agreement between them and birds of prey. It were to be wished that succeeding historians would examine into this observation, which is offered only as a conjecture.

CHAP. III.

OF CARTILAGINOUS FLAT FISH OF THE RAY KIND.

The same rapacity which impels the shark along the surface of the water actuates the flat fish at the bottom. Less active and less formidable, they creep in security along the bottom, and seize everything that comes in their way; neither the hardest shell nor the sharpest spines give protection to the animals that bear them; their insatiable hunger is such that they devour all ; and the force of their stomach is so great that it easily digests them.

The whole of this kind resemble each other very strongly in their figure; nor is it easy without expe rience to distinguish one from another. The stranger to this dangerous tribe may imagine he is only handling a skate, when he is instantly struck numb by the torpedo; he may suppose he has caught a thornback, till he is stung by the fireflare. It will be proper, therefore, after describing the general figure of these animals, to mark their differences.

All fish of the ray kind are broad, cartilaginous, swimming flat on the water, and having spines on different parts of their body, or at the tail. They all have their eyes and mouth placed quite under their body, with apertures for breathing either about or near them. They all have teeth, or a rough bone, which answers the same purpose. Their bowels are very wide towards the mouth, and go on diminishing to the tail. The tail is very differently shaped from that of other fishes, and at first sight more resembling that of a quadruped, being narrow, and ending either in a bunch or a point. Bnt what they are chiefly distinguished by is their spines or prickles, which the different species have on different parts of their body. Some are armed with spines both above and below; others have them on the upper part only; some have their spines at the tail; some have three rows of them, and others but one. These prickles in some are comparatively soft and feeble-those of others strong and piercing. The smallest of these spines are usually inclining towards the tail-the larger towards the head.

It is by the spines that these animals are distinguished from each other. The skate has the middle of the back rough, and a single row of spines on the tail; the sharpnosed ray has ten spines that are situated towards the middle of the back; the rough ray has its spines spread indiscriminately over the whole back; the thorn-back has its spines disposed in three rows upon the back; the fireflare has but one spine, but that indeed a terrible one. This dangerous weapon is placed on the tail, about four inches from the body, and is not less than five inches long. It is of a flinty hardness, the sides thin, sharp pointed, and closely and sharply bearded the whole way. The last of this tribe that I shall mention is the torpedo; and this animal has no spines that can wound; but in the place of them it is possessed of one of the most potent and extraordinary faculities in Nature.

Such are the principal differences that may enable us to distinguish animals, some of which are of very great use to mankind, from others that are terrible and noxious. With respect to their uses, indeed, as we shall soon see, they differ much; but the similitude among them, as to their nature, appetites, and conformations, is perfect and entire. They are all as voracious as they are plentiful, and as dangerous to a stranger as useful to him who can distinguish their difference.

Of all the larger fish of the sea these are the most numerous; and they owe their numbers to their size. Except the white shark and cachalot alone, there is no other fish that has a swallow large enough to take them in; and their spines make them a still more dangerous morsel. Yet the size of them is such, that even the