1HE WORLD S WONDERS. 



691 



quantity of oil, and a valuable substance resembling spermaceti 

 may be expressed from their bodies, and for this purpose power- 

 ful screw-presses are employed. 



In early winter the sharks are caught with hook and line 

 through holes in the ice, like salmon, for which the Esquimau 

 women fish so industriously. It is by no means an easy task to 

 land one of these cetaceans, for they are sometimes ten feet in 

 length and of corresponding strength. 



ESQUIMAU WOMAN FISHING THROUGH THE ICE. 



' The nets set for white whales are deftly made of seal-skin and 

 attached to the shore, extending off at right angles, so as to 

 intercept them in their annual southern migration, when they 

 swim close among the rocks to avoid their direst foe, the grampus. 

 When the white whale is stopped by the net it often appears at 

 first to be unconscious of the fact, and continues to swim against 

 it, affording time for the approach of a boat and deadly harpoon 



