There is yet another smaller sort of whales, called but-heads, from the
form of its head, which at the snout is flat, like a but’s end: he has a
fin upon his back towards the tail, and two side fins: his tail is like
to that of a whale. In the hinder part of the head he has a pipe to
fetch air, and spout the water through, which he does not spout out with
that force the whale does: his size is from fourteen to twenty feet: he
follows ships under sail with a fair wind, and seems to run for a wager
with them; whereas, on the contrary, other whales avoid and fly from
them. Their jumping, as well as that of fishes and sea animals,
forebodes boisterous and stormy weather.
Among the different kinds of whales some reckon the unicorn, as they
commonly call him, from a long small horn that grows out of his snout;
but his right name is nar-whale. It is a pretty large fish, eighteen or
twenty feet long, and yields good fat: his skin is black and smooth
without hair; he has one fin on each side, at the beginning of his
belly: his head is pointed, and out of his snout on the left side
proceeds the horn, which is round, turned, with a sharp taper point; the
greatest length of it is fourteen or fifteen feet, and thick as your
arm. The root of it goes very deep into the head, to strengthen it for
supporting so heavy a burthen. The horn is of a fine, white, and compact
matter, wherefore it weighs much: the third part of it, beginning from
the root, is commonly hollow; and there are some very solid at the root,
and above it grows more and more hollow. On the right side of the head
there lies another shorter horn hidden, which does not grow out of the
skin, and it cannot be conceived for what end the All-wise Creator has
ordained it: he has, like other whales, two pipes or spouts which
terminate in one, through which he breathes and fetches air, when he
comes up out of the sea with his head. Here I must observe to you, that
when the whale comes up to fetch air, it is not water he throws out at
the spouts, as the common notion runs; but his breath, which resembles
water forced out of a great spout. As for the rest of the unicorn or
nar-whale’s body, it is perfectly of the same shape as that of other
whales.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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