SOUTH SEAS AND THElNORWEGIANS 65 



fathoms of line may go out in two minutes; suppose, then/ that 

 the Hne gets looped around the body, or even the arm or leg, of 

 one of the crew. Suppose a knot forms, so that the line is 

 shortened and the boat itself is pulled under in the place of that 

 knotted line. And all this off the wintry coasts of Spitzbergen, 

 Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador. Small wonder that bottle- 

 nose whaling was not a lasting fashion ! 



