146 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



"every man in the ship knows his place/^ A captain, 

 harpooner, and four oarsmen arc appointed for every 

 boat. Each harpooner receives twenty harpoons, 

 six spears, two cutting spades, a hatchet, two knives, 

 a good stock of handles for harpoons, spears, and 

 spades, and a sufficient quantity of the line or thin 

 strong cord, which is so indispensable in the fishing. 

 As the ship approaches the fishing-ground where it 

 expects to meet with the whales, the crew is con- 

 stantly engaged in making preparations, and espe- 

 cially in fitting up the whale-boats, which are 

 regarded, each by its particular crew, with affec- 

 tionate solicitude. The whale-boat is the . most 

 necessary of all the implements, for everything 

 (lepends on it. This is why the whalers can never 

 exercise too much care with regard to it, or be too 

 particular about providing it with everything needful 

 to keep it in good case. 



After the boat, the next most important matter 

 is the harpoon. My guide placed in my hands an 

 iron dart, the barb forming an obtuse angle of 

 about a hundred and twenty degrees, and with sharp 

 cutting edges about three inches long. I had never 

 seen a more terrible weapon for its purpose. The 

 third side of the triangle, about six lines thick, is 

 fastened by the middle to an iron branch of exceed- 

 ing suppleness, in which is fixed the handle, whereby 

 the harpoon is thrown. The metal should be of 

 such temper that it will bend in every direction, but 



