WHALE-FISHERY. 159 



of these, welded together; so that should a flaw hap- 

 pen to occur in any one of the rods, the strength of 

 the whole might still be depended on. Some manu 

 facturers enclose a quantity of stub-iron in a cylinder 

 of best foreign iron, and form the shank of the har- 

 poon out of a single rod. A test sometimes used 

 for trying the sufficiency of a harpoon, is to wind 

 its shank round a bolt of inch iron, in the form of a 

 close spiral, then to unwind it again, and put it in, 

 to a straight form. If it bears this without injury 

 in the cold state, it is considered as excellent. The 

 breaking of a harpoon is of no less importance than 

 the value of a whale, which is sometimes estimated 

 at more than 1000?. sterling. 



Next in importance to the harpoon, is the lance, 

 (fig. 5.) which is a spear of iron of the length of six 

 feet. It consists of a hollow socket six inches long, 

 swelling from half an inch, the size of the shank, 

 to near two inches in diameter, into which is fitted 

 a four feet stock or handle of fir; a shank five feet 

 long, and half an inch in diameter; and a mouth of 

 steel, which is made very thin, and exceedingly 

 sharp, seven or eight inches in length, and two or 

 £| in breadth. 



These two instruments, the harpoon and lance, 

 with the necessary apparatus of lines, boats, and 

 oars, are all that are essential for capturing the 

 whale. But besides these instruments, so success- 

 fully used in the whale-fishery, there is likewise an 

 auxiliary weapon which has, at different periods, 

 been of some celebrity. This is the harpoou-gun. 



