180 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



peculiar species; and this previous knowledge is of the utmost conse- 

 quence. Wheo these boats are arrived at a reasonable distance, one of 

 them rests on its oars and stands off as a witness of the approaching 

 engagement : near the bows of the other the harpooner stands up, and 

 on him principally depends the success of the enterprise. He wears n 

 jacket closely buttoned, and round his head a handkerchief tightly 

 bound ; in his hands he holds the dreadful weapon, made of the best 

 steel, marked sometimes with the name of their town, and sometimes 

 with that of their vessel, to the shaft of which the end of a cord of due 

 strength, coiled up with the utmost care in the middle of the boat, is 

 firmly tied ; the other end is fastened to the bottom of the boat. Thus 

 prepared they row in profound silence, leaving the whole conduct of tin- 

 enterprise to the harpooner and to the steersman, attentively following 

 their directions. When the former judges himself to be near enough to 

 the whale, that is, at the distance of about fifteen feet, he bids them 

 stop ; perhaps she has a calf, whose safety attracts all the attention of 

 the dam, which is a favorable circumstance ; perhaps she is of a danger- 

 ous species, and it is safest to retire, though their ardour will seldom 

 permit them ; perhaps she is asleep — in that case he balances high the 

 harpoon, trying in this important moment to collect all the energy of 

 which he is capable. He launches it forth — she is struck ; from her 

 first movement they judge of her temper, as well as of their future suc- 

 cess. Sometimes in the immediate impulse of rage she will attack the 

 boat and demolish it with one stroke of her tail ; in an instant the frail 

 vehicle disappears and the assailants are immersed in the dreadful 

 element. Were the whale armed with the jaws of the shark, and as 

 voracious, they never would return home to amuse their listening wives 

 with the interesting tale of the adventure. At other times she will dive 

 and disappear from human sight, and everything must then give way 

 to her velocity, or else all is lost. Sometimes she will swim away as 

 if untouched, and draw the cord with such swiftness that it will set the 

 edge of the boat on fire by the friction. If she rises before she has run 

 out the whole length, she is looked upon as a sure prey. The blood she 

 lias lost in her flight weakens her so much, that if she sinks again it is but 

 for a short time ; the boat follows her course with an almost equal speed. 

 She soon reappears; tired at last with convulsing the element, which 

 she tinges with her blood, she dies, and floats on the surface. At other 

 times it may happen that she is not dangerously wounded, though she 

 carries the harpoon fast in her body, when she will alternately dive and 

 rise, and swim on with unabated vigor. She then soon reaches beyond 

 the length of the cord and carries the boat along with amazing velocity; 

 this sudden impediment sometimes will retard her speed, at other times 

 it only serves to rouse her anger and to accelerate her progress. The 

 harpooner, with the ax in his hands, stands ready. When he observes 

 that the bows of the boat are greatly pulled down by the diving whale, 

 and that it begins to sink deep and to take much water, he brings the 



