WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 157 



the slower revolving screw of the steam-whaler ; we play 

 our one card that it will not, so to-day our anxiety can be 

 understood. 



There was too much at stake on this occasion for the writer 

 to do the harpooning, so Henriksen took the gun and har- 

 poon. The actual firing and hitting a whale any good pistol- 

 shot can do. But manoeuvring the vessel, stalking the 

 whale, as it were, needs a good deal of experience, and it 

 goes without saying one must have perfect sea-legs, indeed, 

 that is perhaps the greatest difficulty. It takes a great deal 

 of experience to be unconscious, when there is a roll on, of 



any effort to balance oneself, which is, of course, absolutely 

 essential for a successful shot. 



At last the grey, blunt-headed whale rose almost in front 

 of us a little to starboard, blew his blast and went under for 

 a few yards and rose again dead in front of our bow ; higher 

 and higher his back rose, then Bang ! and we were fast and 

 the line rattling out. 



That was a grand boom ! and a straight shot. A great 

 surge followed as the whale went down, and out went the 

 five-inch rope for but a short distance, though it was a 

 heavy rope, spun for far more powerful prey than the sperm 

 or cachalot, and we soon began to reel in, and the writer 

 with a long lance ended the valuable animal's troubles. 



I noticed, as the point of the lance went into the whale, 

 that its silky grey skin was marked here and there with series 

 of circles, something like Burmese writing magnified. I 



