IX 

 HARPOONS, LANCES, GUNS, AND BOATS 



THE earliest records of civilized whaling 

 show that the harpoons then used were 

 barbed spears something like those used 

 by the aborigines, but pointed with iron or steel 

 instead of stone or bone. A long line was at- 

 tached to the harpoon, and by it the whale boat 

 was kept connected with the whale into which 

 the harpoon had been thrust, unless, indeed, 

 the whale sounded, or dived, to a depth beyond 

 the length of the line or in some way broke loose. 

 When the wounded whale fled along the surface, 

 the civilized whalers from the earliest times 

 always strove to haul in on the line, until the 

 boat was brought near enough to enable one 

 of the crew to thrust a lance into the animal. 

 The lance was simply an unbarbed spear, one 

 that could be thrust in, and then withdrawn 

 and thrust again. The harpoon and lance were 

 ao 3 



