CETACEANS. 20 1 



For its intended purpose, the whale-lance is a neat, 

 portable, and very powerful weapon. When in use, it 

 is secured to the head of the boat by a line, or a lance- 

 warp," seven fathoms in length ; the boat approaching 

 the whale within a short distance, the weapon is 

 darted into the body of the animal, and withdrawn by 

 the " warp," with a rapidity and frequency proportioned 

 to the opportunities offered. When strongly darted, 

 the lance penetrates its entire length into the whale, 

 and, piercing a vital part, will sometimes kill the 

 creature by a single wound. 



The instrument with which the blubber is separated 

 from the whale, and subsequently cut into convenient 

 portions, is called a spade. It is a triangular plate of 

 steel, set to a very keen edge, and fixed, by a short 

 shank and socket, to a cylindrical handle. The length 

 of the spade does not exceed one foot, and that of the 

 pole to which it is attached, is either five or twelve feet, 

 according as it is adapted to be used on deck, or over 

 the ship's side. The spade has occasionally been em- 

 ployed in the boats, to dart against the harpooned 

 Cachalot and divide the sinews of its tail, and thus to 

 cripple the animal, as in ham-stringing quadrupeds; 

 but the whale, by sometimes returning the weapon 

 amongst a boat's crew, by the action of its flukes, has 

 given no great encouragement to this practice. 



