ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 285 



and again disappointed the people in two of the 

 boats, Vvliich had got extremely near it. 



Several times the harpooners seized their vrea- 

 pons, and were on the point of launching them at 

 the fish, when, in an instant, it shot from them with 

 singular velocity, and then disappeared. In this 

 way the chase was continued for fourteen hours, 

 when the fish again turned to leeward. Eut the men 

 exhausted by such uncommon exertion, together with 

 the hard labour to which they had previously been 

 subjected ; at the same lime being without meat or 

 drink, and sparingly shielded from the inclemency 

 of the weather, by clothes di'enched in oil, — were 

 incapacitated from taking advantage of the only 

 chance they had ever had of success from the com- 

 mencement of the chase ; they did, it is true, make 

 the attempt, but their efforts were too feeble to be 

 of any service. 



By this time we had reached the boats with the 

 ship. The wind had increased to a gale, and a con- 

 siderable sea had arisen. We had no hope, there- 

 fore, of success. As, however, we could not possi- 

 bly recover the lines at this time, stormy as the 

 weather was, we applied a cask as a buoy to support 

 them, and moored an empty boat having a jack fly- 

 ing in it, to the cask, with the intention of keeping 

 near it during the storm, and with the expectation of 

 recovering our lines, and a faint hope of likewise 



