178 A LARGE WHALE CAPTURED. 



had had a long dart, and struck the fish in his small, 

 where there was not sufficient blubber for the iron 

 to take firm hold. The other fish, to which the star- 

 board boat was attached, was going at the rate of I 

 do not know how many knots an hour, breaching, 

 curvetting — now with his head out of water, and, 

 again, with his flukes reared high in the air, present- 

 ing all sorts of resistance that characterize the right 

 or sperm whale — snapping his huge jaws together, 

 and lashing the water, left and right, with his flukes. 

 For a time he kept running along at a rate that 

 deterred the other boats from approaching him ; but, 

 finally, the chief mate managed to get a line from 

 the bow boat, which was taken in tow. The whale 

 continued running for some time after; when he 

 halted for a moment, the mate, watching his oppor- 

 tunity, hauled his boat on to him, and, with a well- 

 aimed lance, stopped his running forever. We soon 

 afterwards got him alongside. He was a noble speci- 

 men of the cachalot, exceeding in size any one we 

 had previously taken. On account of the heavy 

 weather incident to this coast, we took time by the 

 forelock, and cut him in that same night. It was 

 calm and the moon was at its full, whilst scarcely a 

 ripple disturbed the surface of the ocean, so that we 

 had an excellent time. At midnight nearly all was 

 on deck. The following morning we hove in the 

 junk, and bailed the case — the immense weight of 

 the latter preventing us from hoisting it aboard. 

 This whale yielded us one hundred and ten barrels 

 of oil. 



It will be seen that whales are plenty ofi' the coast 

 of Kew Zealand, and the query may be raised, why 



