An account of several late voyages and discoveries

to Spitzbcrgcn. . 1 4~ Thc Wbale-bone is broad at thc top, whcre it ílickcth fa{l to the uppcr Lip, cvcry where overgrown with hard ami whitc Siucws towarcls the Root, fo that betwcen two picccs of \V hale.. bonc you may put in your Hand. Thefc whitc Sincws look like boiled Sta•catt.s or B/11,k·ftfb (i11 Spanifi1 callcd C,ttula /11. Mar) they are of a plcafant Smcll, fo that wc might eat of thcm ; tbcy are not tough at all, but break as cafily as Chccfc, bue they did not ta ílc fo weU ; whc11 thcy putrifie 01· rot they f mell horribly, jult like unto a foul or rottcn Tooth. Wbcrc che Whalc~bonc is broadcít, as underncath by the Roor, therc growcth fmall Whale-boncs, the other greater, as you fc.:c fmall and large Trecs onc amongfi thc othcr in a Wood. I believe the fmall Whalc-bone doth not grow biggcr, as onc mighc thii,k that fome of thc great pie– ces thcreof might come out, and that fo this fmall \rhalc- bonc might grow up again in the room thcreof, · oras in Childrcn thc Hair grows again whcn cut off; but ic is not fo , for this \Vhalc-bonc is quite anothcr fon, for it is from onc cnd to to'tha ofan equal thiclmefs, a nd foil of long Jacks lik~ Horfcs Hair. Thc ,vhalc· ,bonc is undcrocath narrow and pointed, ami ali overgrown with Hair, that it may not hurt 1hat thar is youug: Bnt without thc \Vhale– bonc hath a Cavicy, for it is turm~d ju{< likc unto a Gutter whcrcin thc \Vatcr runs, where it lyctb onc ovcr thc othcr, as thc Shicl<ls or PlaitsofCr.i1v-/ijb, or thc Pan-tiles of an Houfc thac lye eme ovcr thc othcr, for elfo it might cali!\'