Next to this there is another sort of whales, called the North Capers, from the place of their abode, which is about the North cape of Norway, though they also frequent the coasts of Iceland, Greenland, and sundry other seas, going in search of their prey, which is herring and other small fish, that resort in abundance to those coasts. It has been observed, that some of these North Cape whales have had more than a tun of herrings in their belly. This kind of whales has this common with the former called fin-whale, in that it is very swift and quick in its motion, and keeps off from the shore in the main sea, as fearing to become a prey to its enemies, if it should venture too near the shore. His fat is tougher and harder than that of the great bay whale; neither are his barders or bones so long and valuable, for which reason he is neglected.
The fourth sort is the sword-fish, so called from a long and broad bone, which grows out of the end of his snout on both sides, indented like a saw. He has got two fins upon his back, and four under the belly, on each side two: those on the back are the largest; those under the belly are placed just under the first of the back: his tail broad and flat underneath, and above pointed, but not split or cloved. From the hindermost fin of the back he grows smaller: his nostrils are of an oblong shape: the eyes are placed on the top of his head, just above his mouth. There are different sizes of sword-fish, some of twenty feet, some more, some less. This is the greatest enemy the true whale has to deal with, who gives him fierce battles; and, having vanquished and killed him, he contents himself with eating the tongue of the whale, leaving the rest of the huge carcase for the prey and spoils of the morses and sea birds.
The cachelot or pot-fish is a fifth species of whales, whose shape is somewhat different from that of other whales, in that the upper part of his head or skull is much bigger and stronger built; his spouts or pipes are placed on the forehead, whereas other whales have them on the hinder part of the head: his under jaw is armed with a row of teeth which are but short: his tongue is thin and pointed, and of a yellowish colour: he has but one eye on the side of the head, which makes him of easy access to the Greenlanders, who attack him on his blind side. Of his skull that wrongly so called spermaceti is prepared, one yielding twenty to twenty-four tuns thereof. The rest of the body and the tail are like unto those of other whales. He is of a brownish colour on the back, and white under the belly: he is of different sizes, from fifty to seventy feet long.