WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 33 



Here is the 12th of August, day of Saint Grouse, and we 

 should be treading the heather at home, but we are still 

 on the island of Nottero, with rain every day ; and every 

 morning the same slow drive behind Swartzen into Tonsberg, 

 longing all the time for our ship to be ready for sea. We 

 hoped to have had it ready in June ! 



We have, however, made almost our last payment, and have 

 her insured. What a lot it all costs ! 



We tried to console ourselves to-day with the interest of our 

 first trial run of our engine as against loss of pleasant company 

 and grouse at home, also we have the pleasure of seeing the 

 last of our whale lines being made and we get our chronometer 

 on board, stop watch, etc., and spend hours in Jarman Jensen's 

 little back shop with three skippers giving us advice, as we 

 draw up lists of provisions for the St Ebba for a twelvemonth. 



In the rope factory run by Count Isaacksen we watched 

 the last of our great whale lines being spun ; three five-inch 

 lines we have to port and three to starboard, one hundred 

 and twenty fathoms each that is, we can let a whale run 

 out three times one hundred and twenty fathoms on our port 

 lines, three hundred and sixty or two thousand one hundred 

 and sixty feet. I have seen that length run straight out in 

 a few seconds at the rate of sixty miles per hour, with 

 engine going eight knots astern and brakes on, and then 

 it snapped ; for some big blue whales five of these lines 

 are attached to give greater weight and elasticity, because, 

 you see, there is no rod used in whale-fishing. 



The rope factory and Jarman Jensen's store are two 

 wonders of Tonsberg. The store is a small front shop, gener- 

 ally pretty full of townspeople making domestic purchases, 

 butter, potatoes, coffee. Jensen, with perfect calm and 

 without haste, weighs out a pound of butter, wraps it in 

 paper and hands it with a bow to some customer, gives a 

 direction to one or two heated assistants, and comes back to 

 us in the den behind the shop and continues to tot up the 

 provisioning for our ship for a year, or the stores for some 

 far bigger whaling concern running to thousands of pounds. 



So much business done in so small a space and with such 

 complete absence of fuss ! Jensen in his leisure hours is 



