104 VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN. 



make Tais escape, however, he was struck by a 

 harpoon, and his flight being thus obstructed, he 

 was attacked with spears : a tackle was immediate- 

 ly fastened to his jaws, and being hoisted on deck* 

 his belly was riped open, and the blubber recover- 

 ed. The carpenter, too, stripped a considerable 

 quantity of skin from his tail. Notwithstanding 

 this rude treatment, he was no sooner let down 

 than he swam away with great agility. 



The Squdlus pristis^ or Saw-Fish is often 

 found upwards of fifteen feet long ; with sword- 

 shaped bony snout, nearly one-third the length of 

 the fish, and denticulated on both sides : mouth 

 placed beneath the anterior part of the head ; jaws 

 furnished with several rows of teeth ; habit rather 

 slender ; body convex above, and somewhat flatten- 

 ed beneath ; skin rough 5 colour greyish brown 

 above, paler beneath. 



June 1st, Continued in the same situation, be- 

 ing almost icebound. Sent out the boats after 

 a whale, which made its escape below the ice after 

 being struck ; the lines of course were lost. The 

 harpoons are marked with the names of the ship 

 and captain, and if a whale that has been killed by 

 one ship be found by another, she is obliged to 

 deliver up a certain portion of the blubber to the 

 former. 



