PKOCEEDIXGS IN CAPTURING THE WHALE. 251 



yielded tlieir lives to the lances of active fishers, 

 within the space of fifteen minutes from the time 

 of being struck ; and in cases where fisli have been 

 shot with a harpoon-gun, in a still shorter period ; 

 while other instances are equally familiar and cer- , 

 tain, wherein a whale having gained the shelter of a 

 pack or compact patch of ice, has sustained or 

 avoided every attack upon it, during the space of 

 forty or fifty hours. Some whales have been cap- 

 tured when very slightly entangled with a single har- 

 poon, while others have disengaged themselves, though 

 severely wounded witli lances, by a single act of vio- 

 lent and convidsive distortion of the body, or tre- 

 mendous shake of the tail, from four or more har- 

 poons ; in which act, some of the lines have been 

 broken with apparent ease, and the harpoons to 

 which other lines Avere attached, either broken or 

 torn out of the body of the vigorous animal. Ge- 

 nerally, the speedy capture of a whale depends on 

 the activity of the harpooners, the favourableness of 

 situation and weather, and, in no inconsiderable de- 

 gree, on the peculiar conduct of the whale attacked. 

 Under the most favourable circumstances ; namely, 

 when the fishemien are very active, the ice very open, 

 or the sea free from ice, and the weather fine, — the 

 average length of time occupied in the capture of a 

 whale, may be stated as not exceeding an hour*. The 



* Twelve large whales taken in different voyages, memo- 

 randa of whose capture I have preserved, were killed, on an 



