THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 377 



one directly forward. It seems almost as though this sensi- 

 bility to touch was a guard against the collision of parts so 

 important to existence with other objects, and which are 

 beyond the line of vision. And it is also endowed with a 

 backing power which is simply marvelous, when we con- 

 sider the enormous weight moving forward with great 

 speed. 



This very marked peculiarity of the right whale is con- 

 stantly taken advantage of by the whaleman, who, working 

 about its head completely out of the reach of its active 

 flukes, parries the charge of the enraged monster as deftly 

 as the fencer glances the thrust of his antagonist's sword. 

 If an advancing whale glides under the boat, and the back, 

 or "small," touches the keel, then, quick as the lightning 

 flash, the responsive flukes will whip up, and send boat and 

 crew into the air, amidst a perilous tangle of kinking line, 

 sharp harpoons, lances, spades, hatchets, knives, and boat-gear 

 generally. An accursed attribute of such sharp company is 

 to travel point or edge first, and form closer acquaintance 

 than is agreeable. 



Knowing this trick of the right whale's flukes, and expe- 

 rienced only in the dangers of the spermaceti's ugly, insensi- 

 ble head, it required my very best nerve to stand unmoved 

 at the head of our dancing cockle-shell, measuring the. ca- 

 dences of the rise and fall of our first right whale. His blow- 

 ing formed the measure of my breathing as I awaited the 

 decisive moment. The great snout glided within a yard of 

 the prow, and then, with steady hand, I directed the point 

 of my iron against the little centre of sensation. Success- 

 fully pricked, the great hulk, without losing speed, changed 

 its direction as by magic, and rounded down without touch- 

 ing the boat, exposing his great back, on which fifteen feet 

 breadth of " black skin " tore the harpoon from my hand. 

 Following this there was a cloud of foam, a roar of broken 



