164 WHALE FISHERYi 



not used, the greatest caution is necessary, before a 

 whaleman be reached; smooth careful rowing is al- 

 ways requisite, and sometimes sculling is practised. 

 When it is known that a whale seldom abides 

 longer on the water than two minutes, that it gene- 

 rally remains from five to ten or fifteen minutes 

 under water;* that in this interval it sometimes 

 moves through a space of half a mile or more, — 

 and that the fisher has very rarely, any certain in- 

 timation of the place in which it will reappear; — < 

 the difficulty and address, requisite to approach suf- 

 ficiently near, during its short stay on the surface, 

 to harpoon it, will readily be appreciated. It is, 

 therefore, a primary consideration with the harpoou- 

 er always to place his boat as near as possible to 

 the spot, in which he expects the fish to rise, and he 

 conceives himself successful in the attempt when 

 the fish " comes up within a start," that is, within 

 the distance of about £00 yards. In all cases when 

 a whale that is pursued, has butonce been seen, the 

 fisher is considerably indebted to what is called 

 chance for a favourable position. But when the 

 whale has been twice seen, and its change of place, 

 if any, noticed, the harpooner makes the best use of 

 the intimation derived from his observation on its 



* Before I had particularly minuted the time, that a whale 

 stays on the surface, and remains below, I believed each in- 

 tervalj and especially the former, was much greater than it 

 really is. 



