mOCEEDIXGS OX FISIIIXG STATIONS. 239 



When it is knovni tliat a ^vhale seldom abides 

 longer on the surface of the water than two mi- 

 nutes, — that it generally remains from five to ten 

 or iiftecn minutes under water*, — that in this in- 

 terval it sometimes moves through the space of half 

 a mile, or more, — and that the fisher has very rare- 

 ly any certain intimation of the place in which it 

 will re-appear ; — the difficulty and address requisite 

 to approach sufficiently near during its short stay 

 on the surface, to harpoon it, Vv^ll he readily appre- 

 ciated. It is therefore a primary consideration with 

 the hai-pooner, always to place his boat as near as 

 possible to the spot in which he expects the fish to 

 rise, and he conceives himself successful in the at- 

 tempt when the fish " comes up within a start ;" 

 that is, within the distance of about 200 yards. In 

 all cases where a whale that is pursued has but 

 once been seen, the fisher is considerably indebted to 

 what is called chance for a favourable position. But 

 when the whale has been twice seen, and its 

 change of place, if any, noticed, the harpooner makes 

 the best use of the intimation derived from his ob- 

 servations on its apparent motion, and places his 

 boat accordingly ; thus, he anticipates the fish in its 

 progress, so that wlien it rises to the surface, there 



* Before I had particularly minuted the time that a wliale stays 

 on the surface^ and remains below, I believed eacli intervalj 

 and especially the former^ was mucli greater than it really is. 



