196 MARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 
a knife in his bund, which they call the chopping -knife, and if the ice-field be 
hollow, or spongy, or full of holes in the middle, so that the whale can fetch 
breath underneath it, and the rope is not long enough to follow him, and if the 
ice be several miles long, they draw the rope in as much as possibly they can, 
until it be strait, and then he chops it off, loosing the piece of the rope whereon 
the harpoon is fastened, that sticketh in the body of the whale, yet not without 
great loss, for oftentimes they run away with the lines that belong to five and 
more sloops. It happens very often, that they run to the ice with the long-boats, 
so that they dash against it, as if they would break it into pieces, which also very 
often happens. But when the whale rises again, they oftentimes fling one or two 
more harpoons into him, according as they find he is tired more or less ; then he 
dives under water again. Some swim or run even all along on the water, and they 
play with their tail and fins, so that we must have great care that we may not 
come too near them. When the whales fling their tails about in this manner, they 
wind the line about their tail, so that we need not to fear the harpoon tearing 
out, for then they are ty'd strong and firm enough with the rope. After they are 
wounded, they spout with all their might and main, so that you may hear them as 
far off as you may a cannon ; but when they are quite tired, it cometh out only 
by drops, for he hath not strength enough to force the water up, and therefore it 
sounds as if you held an empty mug or bottle under water, and the water runs 
into it. And this sound is a certain sign of his feebleness, and that he is going to 
expire. Some whales blow blood to the very last, after the}' have been wounded, 
and these dash the men in the long-boats most filthily, and d}-e the sloops red as if 
they were painted with a red colour ; nay, the very sea is tinged red all along where 
they swim. Those whales that are mortally wounded heat themselves, that they 
reek while they are alive, and the birds sit on them, and eat on them while they 
are still alive. When the whales blow up the water, they fling out with it some 
fattish substance that floats upon the sea like sperm, and this fat the Mallemucks 
devour greedily, of which several thousands attend him, so that a whale often hath 
more attendants than a king hath servants. Sometimes also the harpoons break 
out; then often long-boats of other ships attend, and as soon as they see that the 
harpoon is come out, they fling their own into him, and the whale is theirs, altho' 
the first harpoon hath almost kill'd the whale, yet if he doth get loose, the second 
party claims him, and the first must look for another. Sometimes at the same time 
two harpoons, belonging to two several ships, are struck into the whale ; such ones 
are divided equally, and each one hath half: the other two, or three, or more sloops, 
as many as there is of them, wait for the whales coming up again, and when they 
