76 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



of the seigval rams into it at the water's surface and splits it asunder. 

 Men fall from it like little peas from a pod. 



Now all is confusion. The great ballistae "thwang" shaft after 

 shaft into the melee, rocks shower down from the canyon walls, 

 and the men in the boats break out long lances and begin stabbing 

 at the frenzied beasts. Slowly the whole company moves forward 

 toward the beach despite the breakthrough of the leader and the 

 smashing of two boats whose occupants are left to fend for them- 

 selves and to swim to shore. And as darkness descends and the rain 

 comes down in singing showers, there is a great shout from the 

 hoarse throats of the whole community, for all at once the seigval 

 rush madly on to the rocky shore, literally piling one upon another 

 in their desperation. Moreover, there are so many that those behind 

 cannot reach the shallows and mill around until speared to death by 

 the boatmen, who now wield their battleaxes as well as their iron- 

 shod lances. The waters of the fjord are red with blood and the men 

 are spattered with it. The boats are drawn together in a tangled 

 mass of ropes and nets that will take days to unravel. 



Only slowly do the excitement and the noise die down, and it is 

 black night before the last boat is securely tied to the upturned 

 flipper of a dead whale. Flaring torches are now lit and affixed to 

 poles driven into the flesh of the whales and the pebbles of the beach. 

 The whole settlement assembles and the Lawgiver mounts the prow 

 of one of the beached skuta. Raising his hands, he calls for the men 

 to assemble, and when they have done so, he begins to name them 

 by families and by the number in their families. And this goes on 

 far into the night despite the rain, for all must be told, so that the 

 oil from the mountain of captured whales, when it is boiled down 

 and purified, may be divided equitably among all, for such is the 

 custom of the men of the fjords. 



The NORSEMEN of the fjords of Norway are often, though alto- 

 gether erroneously, called "The Vikings." Actually, they were for 

 the most part the direct descendants of those bold neolithic seafar- 

 ers whom we saw incising records of their whaling enterprises on the 

 rocks of these same fjords almost ten thousand years previously. 

 Their leaders, however, formed an aristocracy of quite another race 



