328 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



harpoon mav be short or long, from ten minutes or so to several hours, but it is likely to be the longest 

 part of the hunt, often wearisome, and requiring patience to resist the several disappointments which 

 may punctuate it. The chase is likely to take longer if the whaleboats at sea have divided their attention 

 amongst several whales of a pod which have ' gallied ', that is, become frightened and perhaps scattered 

 at a good speed in all directions. Of course, the motor-boats, which are seldom far away, assist here 

 by giving short tows after running whales. The latter blow frequently, tend to travel ' head out ', and are 

 not easilv lost from sight. Occasionally Sperm whales are not ' scan' ' but loiter at the surface and appear 

 so indifferent that even an engined craft could approach without disturbing them. Such indifferent 

 whales are soonest fastened. But a whaleboat, after a back-breaking pull or anxious work with the 

 paddles, mav be nearly on a whale, and the harponeer up and ready, when the quarrv rounds out, turns 

 his flukes, and sounds (Plate XV, Fig. 3). A Sperm whale will not sound for less than five minutes, and 

 if he is fresh he may be down for twentv minutes or half an hour, or for even longer periods : there is an 

 extreme case from the Azores where a Sperm whale is said to have sounded for one hour and a quarter. 

 The re-emergence or rising mav be in anv direction and as much as a mile or more from the position 

 of the sounding. During the sounding interval the boat mav drift, whilst the men smoke and talk 

 quietlv, or it mav quarter the area, tacking and going about or under leisurely oars. (I have mentioned 

 that the men talk quietly, for I have not heard any shouted orders or raised voices in a whaleboat at 

 anv moment of the hunt : even in their conversation the whalemen appear at all times to feel the actual 

 or possible proximity of the whale, and therefore the need for quiet.) A keen look-out in all directions 

 is kept for the first rising. Unless at a distance and in a sea-wav, this is not likely to be missed by the 

 watchers, and on occasion it may also be heard, for on a still day the first explosive blast of the blow 

 of a Sperm whale is audible up to 250 yards distance. After sounding, a Sperm whale blows many 

 times in succession. Recent data collected on the respiratory rhvthm are still incomplete and have not 

 been analysed, but the actual number of blows seems to depend on the size of the whale and the dura- 

 tion of the sounding just completed. This period, whilst the whale is ' having his spoutings out ' before 

 sounding, is a good time to close with the harpoon. But the boat, after a burst of strenuous effort, may 

 again be disappointed. According to the narratives of old-time pelagic whaling, the harponeer may 

 also be baulked if the whale ' settles '. By settling is meant an abrupt bodily sinking in the water ' with 

 the apparent rapidity of a lump of lead ', and is said to be a sudden expedient of an alarmed Sperm 

 whale which has no time to sound. But I have not myself seen a Sperm whale settle either in the 

 Azores or elsewhere. 



There are times, especially in winter in bad weather, when all the whaleboats return after a fruitless 

 day. Usually, however, one or several of the whales reported are eventually fastened or killed. 



I have noticed that the whaleboats are careful to avoid the glassy-smooth circular patches, nowadays 

 believed to consist of aerated water, which appear singly at the surface after a whale has sounded, or 

 in succession if he is swimming a little below the surface. The American whalemen also avoided this 

 ' slik ' or ' glip ', lest by disturbing it they gallied the whale which in some mysterious way was believed 

 to be in communication with its slik. 



Fastening. The last hundred yards or so of the pursuit are made from a definite and not a haphazard 

 direction relative to the quarry, and the approach is called ' going on the whale '. It is a time of great 

 urgency and extreme effort in the boat. The men will normally be plying the paddles, having boated 

 their less quiet oars, although if speed means everything they may go on under oars (p. 317); or they 

 may be in any case under sail and paddling (Plate XV, Fig. 4). The boatheader, handling the steering- 

 oar or the tiller, urges to faster time and greater effort by a whispered, ' For fa, for fa ! '. He may decide 

 to ' go on the flukes ' or to ' go on head and head ', but he is careful to avoid ' getting on to the eye of 

 the whale', that is, approaching the whale on its beam. 



