CAPTURING THE WHALE. 105 



feet of line to each, yet it pursued its course nearly 

 as fast as a boat could row ; and such was the terror 

 it manifested on the approach of its enemies, that 

 whenever a hoat passed beyond its tail, it invariably 

 dived. All endeavours, therefore, to lance it were 

 in vain. The crews of the loose boats, being unable 

 to keep pace with the fish, moored themselves to 

 the fast boats, and for some hours afterwards all 

 hands were constrained to sit idle, waiting for some 

 relaxation in the speed of the whale. Its general 

 course had been to windward, but its changing 

 enabled the ship, which had previously been at a 

 great distance, to join the boats at eight, p. M. 

 The vessel took one of the fast lines on board, 

 with the view of retarding its progress. The sails 

 were lowered and furled, but after supporting the 

 ship for a few minutes, head to wind, the harpoon 

 lost its hold. The whale immediately set off to 

 windward with increased speed, and, for three hours, 

 the ship could not again approach it. Another line 

 was then taken on board, but immediately broke. 

 A fifth harpoon had previously been struck, but its 

 line was speedily cut. Various schemes for arresting 

 the speed of the fish were then resorted to, which 

 occupied close attention for nearly twelve hours ; 

 but its velocity was still such, that the master, who 

 had himself proceeded to the attack, was unable 

 to approach sufficiently near to strike a harpoon. 

 After a long chase, however, he succeeded in get- 

 ting hold of one of the fast lines, and attached 

 another line to it. The fish then fortunately turned 



