WHALE-FISHERY. 213 



lashing it with a rope, passed several times through 

 two holes pierced in the tail, to the boat's bow. 

 The more difficult operation of freeing the whale 

 from the. entanglement of the lines, is then attempt- 

 ed. As the whale, when dead, always lies on its 

 back, or on its side, the lines and harpoons are ge- 

 nerally far under water. When they are seen pass- 

 ing obliquely downward, they are hooked with a 

 grapnel, pulled to the surface and cut. But when 

 they hang perpendicularly, or when they can not 

 be seen, they are discovered by a process, called 

 " sweeping a fish." 



While this is in progress, the men of the other 

 boats, having first lashed the tail to a boat, are em- 

 ployed in lashing the fins together across the belly 

 of the whale. I have observed two or three curious 

 circumstances connected with these operations, which 

 I shall venture to mention. 



On one occasion, I was myself engaged in the 

 capture of a fish, upon which, when to appearance 

 dead, I leaped, cut holes in the fins, and was in the 

 act of reeving a rope through them, when the fish 

 sunk beneath my feet. As soon as I observed that 

 the water had risen above my knees, I made a 

 spring towards a boat at the distance of three or 

 four yards from me, and caught hold of the gunwale. 

 Scarcely was 1 on board before the fish began to 

 move forward, turned from its back upon its belly, 

 reared its tail aloft, and began to shake it with such 

 prodigious violence, that it resounded through the 



