LANCE AND HARPOON-GUN DESCRIBED. 227 



Next in importance to the harpoon is the lance, 

 (PI. 18. fig. 6.*) which is a spear of iron of the 

 length of 6 feet. It consists of a hollow socket 6 

 inches long, swelling from half an inch, the size of 

 the shank, to near 2 inches in diameter, into which 

 is fitted a 4 feet stock or handle of fir ; a shank 5 

 feet long, and half an inch in diameter ; and a 

 mouth of steel, which is made very thin, and ex- 

 ceedingly sharp, 7 or 8 inches in length, and 2 or 

 2^ in breadth. 



These two instruments, the harpoon and lance, 

 with the necessary apparatus of lines, boats and 

 oars, are all that are essential for captming the 

 whale. But besides these instruments, so success- 

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

 auxiliary weapon whicli has, at different periods, 

 been of some celebrity. This is the har[)oon-gun. It 

 is well calculated to facilitate tlie capture of whales, 

 under particular circumstances, particularly in calm 

 clear weather, when the fish are apt to take the alarm, 

 whenever the boats approach within fifteen or 

 tAventy yards of them. The harpoon-gun was in- 

 vented in the year 1731, and used, it seems, by 

 some individuals with success. Being, however, 

 difficult, and somewhat dangerous in its application, 

 it was laid aside for many years. In 1771 or 1772, 



V 2 



* I have given three figures of laiices, (fig. 4-, 5, 6,) of which 

 I prefer No. (j. 



