92 HISTORY OF THE WHALE. 



nenm, in particular, being thin and transparent, is used in- 

 stead of glass in the windows of their huts ; the bones are 

 converted into harpoons and spears, for striking the seal or 

 darting at sea-birds, and are also employed in the erection 

 of their tents, and with some tribes, in the formation of their 

 boats ; the sinews are divided into filaments, and used as 

 thread with which they sew, with great nicety, the differ- 

 ent articles of their dress. 



PROCEEDINGS IN CAPTURING THE WHALE. 



WE will now proceed to give a short sketch of the method 

 practised in capturing the whale. The first object is to fit 

 out a ship adapted for the trade ; and constructed, therefore, 

 in such a manner as to possess a peculiar degree of strength. 

 Its exposed parts, accordingly, are secured with double or 

 treble timbers; whilst it is fortified internally with ice 

 beams and cross bars, and externally with iron plates, &c. 

 so disposed as to make the pressure on any one part to be 

 supported by the whole fabric. A ship of about three 

 hundred and fifty tons is deemed the most eligible, with a 

 crew of about fifty men ; six or seven very light and swift 

 boats are required for the immediate pursuit ; and one of 

 the essential requisites is the crow's nest, or hurricane-house, 

 invented by the elder Scorseby, a species of watch-tower, 

 made of hoops and canvass, placed on the main-top mast 

 for the use of the master or officer on watch, to shelter him 

 from the blast, where he may be called to sit for hours at 

 the temperature of zero, and whence he can discover all the 

 movements of the surrounding ice or fish, and give direc- 

 tions accordingly. 



