1 04 Slimmer 



others, and a few of the tough bulls still ply their 

 tails and beat the surf into a semi-crimson foam after 

 they have lost much blood and received many wounds. 

 Extremely few escape a fact which is due to their 

 affectionate nature. They will not leave a wounded 

 comrade behind, and whole shoals are said to have 

 been ruined by this characteristic ; for they will swim 

 round a floating carcase and cry on it to follow, while 

 the harpooner takes them one by one. So, too, the 

 mother which has lost her calf will hover round till 

 she too meets her fate. Were it not that every whale 

 killed means money, the Orcadians might be touched 

 to mercy ; but though far from cruel in their disposi- 

 tions, such thoughts are remote from their minds 

 during a whale-hunt. To lay on right and left, and 

 multiply the number of carcases which will be ulti- 

 mately dragged ashore from these sea shambles, is all 

 their desire. Nor is it possible to blame them, for a 

 shoal of whales is a splendid windfall to people of whom 

 it has been truthfully said that few are wretchedly poor, 

 and fewer still inconveniently rich. Long ago, when 

 their condition was worse than it is now, and a home- 

 lier idea of eating was prevalent in both the North 

 and Western Islands, it was customary to pickle the 

 whale-beef for food ; and those who have tasted it 

 assert that it is by no means bad. Even now, when 

 the Faroe Islanders hear of a great catch, they come 

 in those curious boats of theirs and bargain for it. 

 But the whale's chief value lies in his blubber ; and 



