AMERICAN IMPROVEMENTS. 161 



proved to bo one that was already wounded by them ; 

 so nothing was left for us but to cut our line. The irons 

 thatourboatsteererhove into the whale were recovered 

 when they cut him in. With these irons they fastened 

 to, and saved, no less than four large whales — a fifth 

 they struck, but he sounded and carried off all their 

 line. The irons were of the variety known as the 

 " toggel," and are an American improvement: the 

 captain of the Sapphire was so thoroughly impressed 

 with their value that he repeatedly solicited our cap- 

 tain for more of them. Another improvement that 

 the American whaleman possesses, is the iron row- 

 lock, in which the oar works with little or no difficulty. 

 Other nations use the primitive thole-pin, con- 

 sisting of pins of hard wood inserted in holes bored 

 in the boat's efunwale — the least crabbino' of the oar 

 being destruction to them. 



These colonial gentlemen are fair whalemen, but 

 do not possess the energetic, go-ahead spirit of their 

 American cotemporaries. They work very carefully, 

 and seldom expose their boats or themselves to much 

 danger; for instance, they never sail on to whales, 

 always taking the mast down when arriving in their 

 vicinity. I remember hearing the captain of the 

 ship Pacific remark that he had been whaling, maa 

 and boy, for thirty-five years, during which time he 

 had never sailed on to a whale, and never had the 

 boat stove in which he was. On the contrary, 

 the Yankee whaleman, with or without sail, danger 

 or no danger, is bound to strike the whale, if possi- 

 ble, and for this reason they are preferred, even in 

 Hobartown, "because," to use their own expression, 

 "they will risk more to capture whales." Several 

 14* L 



