And there seems no reason to doubt that if these elephants,
which have now been hunted for thousands of years, by Semiramis,
by Porus, by Hannibal, and by all the successive monarchs of the East--
if they still survive there in great numbers, much more may
the great whale outlast all hunting, since he has a pasture
to expatiate in, which is precisely twice as large as all Asia,
both Americas, Europe and Africa, New Holland, and all the Isles
of the sea combined.
Moreover: we are to consider, that from the presumed great longevity
of whales, their probably attaining the age of a century and more,
therefore at any one period of time, several distinct adult
generations must be contemporary. And what this is, we may soon
gain some idea of, by imagining all the grave-yards, cemeteries,
and family vaults of creation yielding up the live bodies of all
the men, women, and children who were alive seventy-five years ago;
and adding this countless host to the present human population
of the globe.
Wherefore, for all these things, we account the whale immortal
in his species, however perishable in his individuality.
He swam the seas before the continents broke water; he once
swam over the site of the Tuileries, and Windsor Castle,
and the Kremlin.
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