PROCEEDINGS IN CAPTURING THE WHALE. 245 



A whale, struck near the edge of any large sheet 

 of ice, and passing underneath it, will sometimes 

 run the whole of the lines out of one boat, in the 

 space of eight or ten minutes of time. This being 

 the case, when the " fast-boat" is at a distance, 

 both from the ship and from any other boat, it fre- 

 quently happens that the lines are all withdra\vii 

 before assistance arrives, and, with the fish, entire- 

 ly lost. In some cases, however, they are recover- 

 ed. To retard, therefore, as much as possible, the 

 flight of the whale, it is usual for the harpooner, 

 who strikes it, to cast one, two, or more turns of 

 the line round a kind of post called a hollai^d ; 

 which is fixed within ten or twelve inches of the 

 stem of the boat, for the pm-pose. Such is the 

 friction of the line, when running round the bol- 

 lard, that it frequently envelopes the harpooner in 

 smoke ; and if the wood were not repeatedly wetted, 

 would probably set fi.re to the boat. During tlie 

 capture of one whale, a groove is sometimes cut in 

 the bollard near an inch in depth ; and, were it not 

 for a plate of brass, iron, or a block of lignum- vitae, 

 which covers the top of the stem where the line 

 passes over, it is apprehended that the action of the 

 line on the material of the boat, would cut it down 

 to the water's-edge, in the course of one season of 

 successful fishing. The approaching distress of a 

 boat, for want of line, is indicated by the elevation 

 of an oar, in the way of a mast, to \vhich is added a 



