states, that about the year 550 of our era, during the reign of Justinian, the shores of the Hellespont were disturbed for no less than fifty years by an enormous whale. At intervals, during that long period, it made its irregular and unwished-for appearance, much to the annoyance of the boats and pleasure yachts of Constantinople, which it frequently struck with its swinging tail, breaking the planks of their bottoms, and endangering or sinking mariners and passengers. Anxiously did Justinian wish to clear his coasts of this destructive stranger, but no scheme could be invented whereby to bring it about. At length, by chance rather than by purpose, this desired extirpation was achieved. The sea, one day, was uncommonly smooth, and a multitude of dolphins were sporting on its surface, near to the mouth of the Euxine. All on a sudden the approach of the whale was made known to them by the noise of his tumultuous march through the waters, and they swam off, for an escape, as fast as they could towards the mouth of the river Sangarius. They were unable, however, to outstrip the rapidity of

small quantity of inferior oil, and but little whalebone, it is unworthy the general attention of the fishers. When struck, it frequently drags the fastboat with such velocity through the water, that it is liable to be carried immediately beyond the reach of assistance, and soon out of sight both of boats and ship. Hence the striker is frequently under the necessity of cutting the line, and sacrificing his employer's property to secure the safety of himself and his companions.

The smallest of the whale family is Balæna Rostrata, or beaked whale. One captured in Scalpa Bay was in length seventeen and a half feet, and in circumference twelve. It is said to grow, in the Norwegian seas, to the length of twenty-five feet. The seas that are principally inhabited by the great whales are those near Spitzbergen and Greenland. They are likewise found in the seas of the high southern latitudes, and are said to visit the shores even of countries near the torrid zone. They have been observed in the Mediterranean, and occasionally in the neighbourhood of the British coasts. Professor Tennant

states, that about the year 550 of our era, during the reign of Justinian, the shores of the Hellespont were disturbed for no less than fifty years by an enormous whale. At intervals, during that long period, it made its irregular and unwished-for appearance, much to the annoyance of the boats and pleasure yachts of Constantinople, which it frequently struck with its swinging tail, breaking the planks of their bottoms, and endangering or sinking mariners and passengers. Anxiously did Justinian wish to clear his coasts of this destructive stranger, but no scheme could be invented whereby to bring it about. At length, by chance rather than by purpose, this desired extirpation was achieved. The sea, one day, was uncommonly smooth, and a multitude of dolphins were sporting on its surface, near to the mouth of the Euxine. All on a sudden the approach of the whale was made known to them by the noise of his tumultuous march through the waters, and they swam off, for an escape, as fast as they could towards the mouth of the river Sangarius. They were unable, however, to outstrip the rapidity of

their pursuer, who, whether from a desire to commit murder upon their bodies, or to enjoy the terror his majestic presence had created, overtook and chased them a considerable way up the stream of that river. His impetuosity occasioned his destruction. In chasing his dolphin prey he got entangled amid the shallows of that river, and, by making violent efforts to disengage himself, only floundered more inextricably among the reeds and mud. The neighbouring country people being witnesses of his distress, rushed down with strong ropes and hatchets to destroy him. They soon hauled him ashore, and cut him up. They measured him, and found his length to be forty-five feet; his breadth, or thickness, fifteen feet. His carcase was distributed in morsels, pickled and unpickled, to the inhabitants of the shores, far and near, who, in tasting his flesh, were glad to get sensible proof of the extermination of the sea-spoiler that had so long terrified and annoyed them."

Willoughby speaks of one that was stranded near Tynemouth, in Northumberland. In the year 1652, a great whale, eighty feet in length, was cast

ashore in the Frith of Forth; and about thirty years afterwards another, somewhat more than seventy feet in length, near Peterhead, in Scotland. Whales are supposed to live to a great age. The marks of age are an increase in the quantity of grey colour in the skin, and a change to a yellowish tinge of the white parts about the head, a decrease in the quantity of oil yielded by a certain weight of blubber, and an increase of hardness in the blubber itself.

"The earliest authenticated account of a fishery for whales," says Scoresby, "is probably that contained in Ohthere's voyage, translated by Alfred the Great. This voyage was undertaken by Ohthere, a native of Halgoland, in the diocese of Drontheim, a person of considerable wealth in his own country, from motives of mere curiosity, at his own risk and under his own personal superintendence. This enterprise was communicated by the navigator himself to King Alfred, who has preserved it, and has handed it down to us in his translation of Orosius."* In various ancient authors

* Orosius was a Christian and a Spaniard. The work here mentioned is his "Summary of Ancient History," ending with the year 417, at which period he lived,