WHALE-FISHERY. 185 



greater number can be killed with less force, and in a 

 short space of time, than in any other situation. Thin 

 fields, or fields full of holes, being by no means ad- 

 vantageous to fish by, are usually avoided, because 

 a "fast-fish," retreating under such a field, can 

 respire through the holes in the centre as conve- 

 niently as on the exterior; and a large fish usually 

 proceeds from one hole to another, and if determin- 

 N ed to advance can not possibly be stopped. In this 

 case, all that can be done is, to break the line or draw 

 the harpoon out. But when the fish can be observ- 

 ed " blowing," in any of the holes in a field, the 

 men travel over the ice and attack it with lances, 

 pricking it over the nose, to endeavour to turn it 

 back. This scheme, however, does not always 

 answer the expectations of the fishers, as frequent- 

 ly the fear of his enemies acts so powerfully on the 

 whale, that he pushes forward to the interior to his 

 dying moment. When killed, the same means are 

 used as in pack-fishing, to sink it, but they do not 

 always succeed; for the harpoon is frequently drawn 

 out, or the line broken in the attempt. If, there- 

 fore, no attempt to sink the fish avails, there is 

 scarcely any other practicable method of making 

 prize of it, (unless when the ice happens to be so 

 thin that it can be broken with a boat, or a channel 

 readily cut in it with an ice saw,) than cutting the 

 blubber away, and dragging it piece by piece across 

 the ice to the vessel, which requires immense labour 

 and is attended with vast loss of time. Hence, we 

 Vol. III. 24 



