40 NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Whale fishery . 



the reader will find has also been the subject of 

 our artist's pencil. 



Whales are chiefly taken in the Northern 

 Seas. The English *ends out with every ship six 

 or seven boats ; each of these has one harpooner, 

 one man at the rudder, one manager of the line, 

 and four seamen to row it. In each boat there 

 are also two or three harpoons, several lances, 

 and six lines, each one hundred and twenty 

 fathoms long, fastened together. 



As soon as the whale is struck with the har- 

 poon it darts into the deep, carrying the instru- 

 ment off in his body; and so rapid is its motion, 

 that if the line were to entangle, it would either 

 snap like a thread, or overset the boat : one man 

 therefore is stationed to attend only to the line 

 that it may go regularly out, ami another is also 

 employed in continually wetting the place it runs 

 against that the wood may not take fire from the 

 friction. It is very wonderful indeed, that an 

 animal so large should be able to cut through 

 the water with such velocity, his flight being as 

 rapid as that of an eagle. 



On the whale's return to breathe, the har- 

 pooner inflicts a fresh wound, till at length, faint- 

 ing from loss of blood, the men venture the boat 

 quite up to him, and a long steeled lance is thrust 

 into his breast and other parts, which soon put 

 an end to his existence. 



When the carcase begins to float, boles are 



