ABSTRACT
THE whale’s skin has a surface which looks like sand on the seashore. Hence, when it raises its back above the waves, as it frequently does, sailors completely mistake it for an island. So, they put in, disembark, drive stakes in to tie their vessels to, and kindle fires to cook their food, till the whale, at last feeling the heat, plunges into the depths. Then those who remain on its back are drowned, unless they can rescue themselves with ropes extended to them from the ship. 1 2 The whale, as I explained earlier in the section on the leviathan or spouter, sometimes spurts out the water it has absorbed, and will quite often sink a whole fleet with its crews under its torrential rain; and when a tempest rises at sea, the monster lifts itself above the waves in order to submerge ships amid the hur- ricane’s turmoil. Sometimes it takes up sand on its back, so that when a storm is brewing (as you may read in the book On Nature), sailors will rejoice at discovering land, drop anchor and take their rest, falsely trusting its stability. As soon as the monster feels the fires they have lit, with a sudden movement it dives down into the waters, and, unless the anchors snap, takes men and ships with it to the bottom. 2
