822 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the shaft by a tiny wooden peg which passed through barb and shaft, 

 being then cut off smoothly on both sides. The point of the harpoon 

 had at one side a wedge-shaped edge, ground to razor keenness; the 

 other side was flat. The shaft, about thirty inches long, was of the 

 best malleable iron, so soft that it would tie into a knot and straighten 

 out again without fracture. Three harpoons, or " irons " as they 

 were always called, were placed in each boat, fitted one above the other 

 in the starboard bow, the first for use being always one unused before. 

 Opposite to them in the boat were fitted three lances for the purpose of 

 hilling whales, the harpoons being only the means by which the boat 

 was attached to a fish, and quite useless to inflict a fatal wound. These 

 lances were slender spears of malleable iron about four feet long, with 

 oval or heart-shaped points of fine steel about two inches broad, their 

 edges kept keen as a surgeon's lancet. By means of a socket at the 

 other end they were attached to neat handles, or " lance poles," about 

 as long again, the whole weapon being thus about eight feet in length, 

 and furnished with a light line, or " lance warp," for the purpose of 

 drawing it back again when it had been darted at a whale. The 

 other furniture of a boat comprised five oars of varying lengths 

 from sixteen to nine feet, one great steering oar of nineteen feet, a 

 mast and two sails of great area for so small a craft, spritsail shape; two 

 tubs of whale line containing together eigheen hundred feet, a keg of 

 drinking water, and another long, narrow one with a few biscuits, a lan- 

 tern, candles and matches therein; a bucket and " piggin " for baling, 

 a small spade, a flag or " wheft," a shoulder bomb gun and ammuni- 

 tion, two knives, and two small axes. A rudder hung outside by the 

 stern. 



With all this gear, although snugly stowed, a boat looked so loaded 

 that I could not help wondering how six men would be able to work 

 in her; but, like most " deep-water " sailors, I knew very little about 

 boating. I was going to learn. 



The reports I had always heard of the laziness prevailing on board 

 whale ships were now abundantly falsified. From dawn to dark work 

 went on without cessation. Everything was rubbed and scrubbed 

 and scoured until no speck or soil could be found; indeed, no gentle- 

 man's yacht or man-of-war is kept more spotlessly clean than was the 

 Cachalot. 



On the fourth day after leaving port we were all busy as usual 

 except the four men in the " crow's-nests," when a sudden cry of 

 " Porps! porps! " brought everything to a standstill. A large school 

 of porpoises had just joined us, in their usual clownish fashion, rolling 

 and tumbling around the bows as the old barky wallowed along, sur- 

 rounded by a wide ellipse of snowy foam. All work was instantly 

 suspended, and active preparations made for securing a few of these 



