WHALES. 419 
catch fire, if water were not poured over it from time to time. If 
by any mischance, the cord is’ stopped or entangled, the boat is 
instantly upset and the crew thrown into the water. After awhile 
—ten or fifteen minutes—the whale reappears on the surface; often 
at a great distance from the place where he was last seen. A 
terrible accident sometimes happens at the moment when the whale 
rises. The boat may be thrown up from below and upset ; 
but this rarely occurs. Scoresby relates, that Captain Lyons, in 
1802, when fishing on the coast of Labrador, perceived near his 
ship, an enormous whale. He immediately sent four boats to give 
chase, two of which overtook the animal at the same time 
and darted their weapons into him. The whale, feeling himself 
wounded, plunged, but quickly rose to the surface immediately 
under the third canoe, which had endeavoured to take the lead, and 
hurled it into the air like a bomb. The boat was flung more than 
fifteen feet out of the water, and being turned completely over, 
came down keel upwards. The men clung to another boat that was 
within reach, and one only was drowned. When the whale comes 
up to the surface he is struck by a second or third harpoon. 
Finally, he is dispatched by blows of the lance. No sooner is the 
animal dead than he is towed to the ship, made fast to the side, 
and cut up into pieces. First, the fat portions of the head, the lips, 
throat, and tongue, are taken off with the bone of the upper jaw, 
and the barbs. Then a strip of fat, about two feet broad, is torn off 
round and round the body, and hoisted up by means of proper 
tackle. This operation may be illustrated by peeling a pear 
spirally, from the large end to the stalk. When the strip is hoisted 
to the top, a longitudinal incision is made with a double-handled 
knife, into which the second hook of the pulley is fixed, and this 
again is drawn up to the top. The strip, when entirely cut off, is 
lowered into the hold, and cut into small pieces for melting. In 
order to peel off the strip of fat, two of the officers of the whaler 
stand outside the ship, on small scaffoldings. The foremost one 
marks the band round and round the body, the other helps in 
separating it from the flesh; the remains are finally abandoned to 
the porpoises, bears, and aquatic birds. 
The whale-fishery has still greater perils to encounter than 
those we have mentioned. It is related, that an American ship, 
BB 2 
