 somewhere about that time, did actually do great mischief
along the Spanish land. But I should not much wonder if, in the darkness of that
early hour of the morning, the shock was after all caused by an unseen whale
vertically bumping the hull from beneath.
    I might proceed with several more examples, one way or another known to me,
of the great power and malice at times of the sperm whale. In more than one
instance, he has been known, not only to chase the assailing boats back to their
ships, but to pursue the ship itself, and long withstand all the lances hurled
at him from its decks. The English ship Pusie Hall can tell a story on that
head; and, as for his strength, let me say, that there have been examples where
the lines attached to a running sperm whale have, in a calm, been transferred to
the ship, and secured there; the whale towing her great hull through the water,
as a horse walks off with a cart. Again, it is very often observed that, if the
sperm whale, once struck, is allowed time to rally, he then acts, not so often
with blind rage, as with wilful, deliberate designs of destruction to his
pursuers; nor is it without conveying some eloquent indication of his character,
that upon being attacked he will frequently open his mouth, and retain it in
that dread expansion for several consecutive minutes. But I must be content with
only one more and a concluding illustration; a remarkable and most significant
one, by which you will not fail to see, that not only is the most marvellous
event in this book corroborated by plain facts of the present day, but that
these marvels (like all marvels) are mere repetitions of the ages; so that for
the millionth time we say amen with Solomon - Verily there is nothing new under
the sun.
    In the sixth Christian century lived Procopius, a Christian magistrate of
Constantinople, in the days when Justinian was Emperor and Belisarius general.
As many know, he wrote the history of his own times, a work every way of
uncommon value. By the best authorities, he has always been considered a most
trustworthy and unexaggerating historian, except in some one or two particulars,
not at all affecting the matter presently to be mentioned.
    Now, in this history of his, Procopius mentions that, during the term of his
prefecture at Constantinople, a great sea-monster was captured in the
neighbouring Propontis, or Sea of Marmora, after having destroyed vessels at
intervals in those waters for a period of more than fifty
