168 WHALE-FISHERY. 



ing under water. After this, it pursues its course 

 directly downward, or re- appears at a little dis- 

 tance, and swims with great celerity, near the sur- 

 face of the water, towards any neighbouring ice, 

 among which it may obtain an imaginary shelter; 

 or it returns instantly to the surface, and gives evi- 

 dence of its agony, by the most convulsive throes, 

 in which its fins and tail are alternately displayed 

 in the air, and dashed into the water with tremen- 

 dous violence. The former behaviour, however, 

 that is,, to dive towards the bottom of the sea, is so 

 frequent, in comparison of any other, that it may 

 be considered as the general conduct of a fast fish. 

 A whale struck near the edge of any large sheet 

 of ice, and passing underneath it, will sometimes run 

 the whole of the lines out of the boat, in the space 

 of eight or ten minutes of time. This being the 

 case, when the u fast-boat" is at a distance, both 

 from the ship and from any other boat, it fre- 

 quently happens that the li&es' are all withdrawn 

 before assistance arrives, and, w r ith the fish, en- 

 tirely lost. In some cases, however, they ^re re- 

 covered. To retard, therefore, as much as pos- 

 sible, the flight of the whale, it is usual for the 

 harpOoner, who strikes it, to cast one, two, or more 

 turns of line round a kind of post called a bollard; 

 which is fixed within ten or twelve inches of the 

 stem of the boat, for the purpose. Such is the fric- 

 tion of the line, when running round the bollard, 

 that it frequently envelopes the harpooner in smoke; 

 and if the wood were not repeatedly wetted, would 



