Book II (“Octavo”), chapter V (“Thrasher”).—This gentleman is famous for his tail, which he uses for a ferule in thrashing his foes. He mounts the Folio whale’s back, and as he swims, he works his passage by flogging him; as some schoolmasters get along in the world by a similar process. Still less is known of the Thrasher than of the Killer. Both are outlaws, even in the lawless seas.
Thus ends Book II (“Octavo”), and begins Book III (“Duodecimo”).
Duodecimoes .—These include the smaller whales. I , The “Huzza Porpoise”; II , the “Algerine Porpoise”; III , the “Mealymouthed Porpoise.”
To those who have not chanced specially to study the subject, it may possibly seem strange, that fishes not commonly exceeding four or five feet should be marshalled among whales —a word, which, in the popular sense, always conveys an idea of hugeness. But the creatures set down above as Duodecimoes are infallibly whales, by the terms of my definition of what a whale is— i.e. a spouting fish, with a horizontal tail.
Book III (“Duodecimo”), chapter I (“Huzza Porpoise”).—This is the common porpoise found almost all over the globe. The name is of my own bestowal; for there are more than one sort of porpoises, and something must be done to distinguish them. I call him thus, because he always swims in hilarious shoals, which upon the broad sea keep tossing