An account of several late voyages and discoveries

, 51 T/Je fottrtl, Part of t1Je Poyage andan half broad, but he was not much Jonger than our biggefr, as onc may guefs by the Tail alfo, yet much thicker and fatter; from whence one ma y infer, that thcy do. not grow much longer, but only in thicJrnefs or fatncfs, as we daily fee: Nor did I ever hear that a bigger or bctter Whale was ever caughc, and even thofe· but feldom, fqr if there were many fuch, our Ships could not hold fo much Fatas it cut from ten, fifteen or twcnty U' hales, as fome of them have fometimes taken in. Over the Fat is, bcfide s thc uppermoft thin Skin already defcribed, another Skin of about an inch thick, proportionable to the bignefs of thc i,Vha/e; it is colour'd according to the co. lour of the Fiíll; if the Fifh be black, this un– ~ermofl thick Skin is fo; if the oútmoft Sido that is like Parchmcn~ is white or ye11ow, the thick one underneath it is of thc fame colour. This ~hic~ Skin is not ftiff nor tough a t a11, fo that one might drefs it like Leather, but it drics juft ,ike unto the F1mgm that grows on Elder, ~vhich we call 'Jews-ears, which are thick and turgid when thcy are green and frefl1, but bric– tle when drey are dried; whercforh this Slcin is not efieem'd at all. This and the uppermofi thin Skin that covers this, are th~ occafion 1:hat the Whal,, .which I take to be thc ftrongetl and piggeft of aI1 Crcatures in the Watt:r, cannot ~ake tife of his (lrength, becaufe they are too foft to do much. ' I have nothing to relate of the inward Parts ,Jf rhc ff''hale, but only that his Guts fcem to · · -· · be