834 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



floats attached, rests in a crotch of ivory lashed to the bow of the 

 boat, and everybody is on the alert. Sails and oars are never 

 used in the boat when whaling, but the boat is propelled by pad- 

 dles alone. 



Thus they spend the months of May and June, eating and 

 sleeping when they can, for the daylight now lasts through the 

 twenty-four hours, occasionally hauling the boat up to the edge 

 of the ice for a rest. Somebody, however, is always on the watch 

 for whales or seals or ducks, which last now and then at this 

 season pass by in thousands on their way to the north. 



When the " leads " close, the boats are hauled up safely on the 

 ice, and all hands come home till an east wind and " water sky " 

 warn them of a fresh chance for whaling. 



Let us suppose that there is good open water, and that a couple 

 of boats are hauled up on the edge of the land floe, their crews 

 resting and gossiping, perhaps waiting for the return of the 

 women who have been sent home to the village for food. Sud- 

 denly a faint puffing sigh is heard, and a little puff of vapor is 

 seen over toward the edge of the ice. It is a whale " blowing." 

 The men all spring to their feet and quickly run the boats off 

 into the water, and, scrambling on board, grasp their paddles and 

 are off in the direction of the "blow." If they are lucky enough 

 to reach the whale before he escapes, the harpooner, standing up, 

 thrusts the heavy harpoon into him with both hands, and quickly 

 recovers the pole, to be used again. The nearest boat rushes in ; 

 other boats, seeing what is going on, come up and join in the at- 

 tack until the whale is captured. Sometimes, indeed, an oppor- 

 tunity occurs for a successful shot with the bomb-gun as soon as 

 the whale is struck, and the contest is ended at once. But the 

 attack is not always so successful. Sometimes the whale escapes 

 into the loose ice before the boats can reach him ; sometimes the 

 harpooner is clumsy, or the harpoon does not hold. Sometimes, 

 too, the whale escapes before enough floats can be attached to 

 him to hamper him, and carries off the harpoons, floats and all. 

 Even if the whale is killed, he sometimes sinks before he can 

 be towed to the edge of the ice, where the " cutting in " is to 

 be done. 



When the " lead " of open water is narrow, the natives who 

 own bomb-guns patrol the edge of the ice, watching an oppor- 

 tunity to shoot the whales as they pass. It was when engaged in 

 this kind of hunting that a young acquaintance of ours at Cape 

 Smyth came near losing his life. A man near him, handling his 

 bomb-gun carelessly the Eskimos are all frightfully reckless 

 with fire-arms discharged it by accident, sending the bomb into 

 the ice under his feet, where it exploded, shaking him up like a 

 small earthquake. 



