Harpoons, Lances, Guns, and Boats 205 



inside. The arrows contain no poison, but later 

 investigations have led to the discovery of a 

 peculiar bacillus that lives on arrows already 

 used, and which poisons the blood. Old arrows 

 (of iron) are only esteemed, and now we know 

 the reason why. After some days the whale 

 becomes dying and is despatched with knives 

 and harpoons." 



Three kinds of harpoons have been popular 

 among American whalemen. One with two barbs 

 was called the "two-flued iron," another with 

 one barb the "one-flued iron," and the third 

 was the toggle-iron. The points and barbs of 

 all harpoons were made of steel and welded to 

 soft, tough iron shanks, except, of course, in 

 the case of the toggle-iron, where the point and 

 barb were made in one piece that was secured 

 to the shank in such a way that it could turn 

 around in the blubber, as the Eskimo toggle 

 turned, until it lay across the end of the shank. 

 The points and the forward or cutting edges 

 of the barbs were always tempered and then 

 sharpened to a razor edge. The boat steerers 

 whetted them on the finest hones and then 



