THE RIGHT WHALE OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 69 
sail, "run over" the animal to leeward, at the same time that the harpoon is 
thrown. The whale, after being struck, often runs to windward, thrashing its flukes 
in every direction. After going a short distance, it frequently stops, or "brings 
to," "sweeping" as it is said, "from eye to eye," and at the same time making a 
terrific noise called "bellowing;" this sound is compared to that of a mammoth 
bull, and adds much to the excitement of the chase and capture. Others will not 
stop until they are hamstrung, as it were, by "spading." The spading process is 
performed by hauling the boat near enough to cut the cords that connect the body 
and the flukes, either on the top or underneath, as the attitude of the animal may 
be. A large vein runs along the underside of the "small," terminating at the junc- 
tion of the caudal fin, which, if cut, will give the creature its death -wound. The 
instrument used for cutting is called a "boat- spade," which may be compared to a 
very wide chisel, with a handle six or eight feet long. Sometimes the cords are 
so effectually severed that the flukes become entirely useless, and still the animal 
hardly slackens its speed perceptibly, showing, evidently, that its pectorals are pow- 
erful propellers. Another mode of stopping the whale is by throwing a number 
of harpoons, detached from the line, into the "small;" a kind of torture that 
would, if the bleeding victim could speak, cause it to entreat its tormentors to put 
an end to its misery. Yet not unfrequently, after being lacerated on every side, it 
holds its human pursuers at bay by assuming a vertical attitude, with flukes upper- 
most, which are clashed in every direction with a furious swoop, hurling sheets of 
spray and foaming water into the boats, and often nearly filling them. But 
when once "brought to" it will remain quite stationary for a few minutes, or roll 
from side to side, giving the officer of the boat a good opportunity to shoot a 
bomb -lance, or use the hand -lance with good effect, which soon dispatches it. 
Sometimes, however, one of these huge animals, in sjfite of the bomb -guns, har- 
poons, and all the whaling -gear combined, will, after being "fastened to," make 
the best of its way to windward with the boat, taking it so far from the ship as 
to oblige the men to cut the line and give up the chase. Of late, Greener's gun 
has been used to some extent in its capture. But before harpoon or bomb guns 
came into general use, the whalemen of the North-western Coast made such havoc 
among these colossal animals (which were regarded as the most vicious of their 
kind), as to have nearly extirpated them, or driven them to some unknown feed- 
ing-ground. 
