THE AMERICAN WHALE-FISHERY. 195 
longer the whale lies dead in the water, the higher he doth swim above it ; some 
swim a foot high above the water, others to their middle, and then they do burst 
easily, and give a very great report. They begin immediately to stink, and this 
encreases hourly, and their flesh boils and ferments like unto beer or ale, and holes 
break in their bellies, and their guts come out. If any man is enclined to sore 
P3 r es, this vapor inflames them immediately, as if quicklime was flung into them. 
But when the live whales rise and sw:m again, some of them are astouish'd, others 
wild or stark mad. To those that are wild we come softly or gently from behind, 
as we clo when we are going to trapan them ; for when the wind is down, the 
weather calm, and air serene, so that the sea doth not foam or roar, the whales 
hear immediately the striking of the oars 
"If many small ice -sheets lye near to one another, so that we can not follow 
the whale with our sloops or long-boats, we fetch in our line with all might and 
strength, and if with one or more pulls we can fetch out the harpoon, it is well, 
if not, we chop off the rope or line. The whale is best and surest struck with a 
harpoon when he spouts water, as is already said above, for we do observe, that 
when they lie still and very quiet, that they then listen, and are sometimes under, 
and sometimes above water, so that their back doth not quite dry, and before we 
are aware of it he flings up his tail behind out of the sea, and so bids us good -by. 
The whales may easily be caught when the air is very serene and clear, and the 
sea quiet, and where there float neither great nor small ice -sheets, so that we may 
go in between them with our boats or sloops, to follow them; for at the ice-fields 
the whales do commonly lye and rub themselves at them, perhaps by reason of the 
lice that bite them. Besides, against the ice- sheets the sea beats, dashes, and 
foams, with small curling waves, so that the whales do not observe nor mind the 
striking of the oars, and so they are easily struck with the harpoon. It is very 
dangerous to kill a female, chiefly when she is big with young, for they defend 
themselves very long, and are harder to be kill'd than a male one. Oftentimes the 
long-boats wait six or seven hours, nay, a whole day, for a whale, before they 
see one. 
"Where great quantity of small ice is crowded together, there it is also very 
dangerous, and hard to come to the whale, for he is so cunning, that when he per- 
ceives where the ice is he retires thither immediately. The harpoonicr stands at 
the head of the long-boat, and doth draw on the rope, to try whether it is heavy 
or light ; if it feels heavy, so that we are afraid that it will pull the boat under 
water, then we give him more rope ; if he runs strait out before, he draweth the 
sloops after him. If he doth run underneath a great ice-field, the harpoonier taketh 
