200 ZOOLOGY. 



wood tree,) about five feet in length. Thus fitted, the 

 weapon is cumbrous, but sufficiently manageable to be 

 wielded by a man of ordinary strength, and darted with 

 force and precision to the distance of several yards. 

 While the boat is in chase of whales, the harpoons, 

 with the line attached, are kept in readiness, projecting 

 obliquely over the bow, and supported upon a forked 

 wooden implement, or " crutch/' When planted in a 

 whale, the weapon is buried to its socket in the body 

 of the animal, and holds tenaciously against the tre- 

 mendous strain produced between the boat and 

 crew on the one hand, and the efforts of the agonized 

 whale on the other ; and, in consequence, the harpoon, 

 when removed from the dead Cachalot, presents a re- 

 markably contorted appearance, sometimes to the extent 

 of a spiral twist, passing through the entire substance 

 of the metal. Immediately after the whale is dead, 

 the poles and lines are removed from the harpoons ; 

 but the latter are not extracted until the blubber in 

 which they are imbedded is removed to the deck of the 

 ship, when they are cut out, straightened, and, if found 

 without defect, refitted for use. 



The lance, employed to destroy the harpooned whale, 

 is a slender, cylindrical, and polished shaft of metal, 

 furnished at one extremity with a broad and thin head, 

 of oval form, and keenly sharpened at its margins, and 

 at the opposite with a toothed spike, by which it is 

 fixed in a handle, or pole. The length of the lance is 

 between four and five feet; its composition, iron, 

 combined with a small proportion of steel. The pole 

 in which it is set is long, but much lighter and more 

 neatly finished than the harpoon stock : the one being 

 permanently fitted, and adapted for constant handling, 

 the other but for a single successful dart. 



