CHAP. II.] WHALES AND WHALERS. 49 



upon it at any length. The whale-boats are admir- 

 ably adapted for the purpose for which they are in- 

 tended. They are of various construction, and are 

 designated as English, French, or American : each 

 has some peculiarity to recommend it. They are 

 capable of resisting the rough sea of Cook's Straits, 

 but are at the same time swift and buoyant. When 

 starting on a whaling expedition, the boats leave 

 Te-awa-iti before the dawn of the morning. Each 

 has either five or six oars, and a crew accordingly. 

 The boat-steerer and headsmen are the principal 

 men in the boat, and are generally Europeans ; the 

 rest are natives. They pull to the entrance of 

 Tory Channel, where a view opens over Cook's 

 Straits and Cloudy Bay from the southern head- 

 land, where they keep a "look-out" for the spouting 

 of a whale. The boat which kills the calf claims 

 the cow, even though it should have been killed by 

 another boat's crew. If a whale has been killed, the 

 different boats assist each other in towing it to Te- 

 awa-iti. I once saw ten or twelve boats towing-in a 

 whale. Each boat had a little flag, and the whole 

 scene was gay and animated. One day a calf had 

 been killed, and the cow, having been fastened upon, 

 but not despatched, was towed inside the channel. 

 Gasping in the agonies of death, the tortured ani- 

 mal, when close to our ship, threw up jets of blood, 

 which dyed the sea all around ; and, beating about 

 with its tail, it broke a boat right in the middle, 

 and threw the crew into the water; but it at length 

 VOL. I. E 



