WHALING 



517 



lashing the ends together on the belly of the fish. The tail is 

 then roused up to the bows of the boat, and the men pro- 

 ceed to tow their capture towards the ship. Unfortunately 

 there is no space in this short chapter to describe flensing 

 (pronounced flinching), i.e. the process of securing the valuable 

 portions of the whale from the carcass. 



The old fisherman's eyes sparkle as he describes the death 

 of a forty-pound salmon, or a huge tarpon in Florida ; the old 

 hunter yarns about that thirty minutes across the stiffest country 

 in the kingdom ; the stalker buttonholes you about that 

 monster stag ; but the writer, who has been fortunate enough to 

 participate in all these sports besides others, must here record 

 that nothing, even his biggest salmon in Norway, ever surpassed 

 the rush of his first whale. Just imagine a fish weighing 

 seventy tons, 1 worth over 3,ooo/., at the other end of a two and 

 a half or three-inch line ! 



In 1892 whalebone was valued at over 3,ooo/. per ton, but 

 sold only for i,3oo/. a ton last March, owing, in all probability, 

 to a big catch the Americans had in Behring Straits. Whaling 

 may be cruel, but as long as these fish remain so valuable 

 they will be hunted : and, if so, why may anyone not get 

 his share of the sport, particularly as it is pursued at con- 

 siderable risk ? Indeed, the fairest, gentlest, most philanthropic 

 ladies of the land are one's aiders and abettors ; for is not 

 whalebone used in the construction of their wearing apparel ? 

 Whale oil is also largely employed in the manufacture of jute 

 and Indian fibre used in making cheap carpets ; so we are all 

 more or less implicated. 



As a profession it is a healthy life, but a hard one. Wages 

 from the captain downwards depend in a great measure on the 

 success of the fishing, each man receiving, according to his 



1 Scoiesby calculates the weight of a full-grown whale at seventy tons, and 

 believes the largest specimens would weigh about a hundred tons. 



