His CAPTORS. 75 



A natural Suggestion. Exterminating Wai-fare. 



emptied into the general circulation, and thus 

 for a time supersedes the necessity of respira- 

 tion. It may be that the accidental piercing, 

 now and then, of the walls of this great pen- 

 stock of arterial blood, by the harpoon or lance, 

 has something to do with the whale's occasional 

 sinking after being killed, a phenomenon not 

 yet satisfactorily explained. 



Until within a few years this gigantic game 

 has been every where so abundant that whale- 

 men have used no means to keep their rich 

 prizes from sinking; but when one has gone 

 down worth $1500 or $2000, or even $3000, they 

 have taken it as a whaleman's fortune, and 

 have gone to capturing others instead. In some 

 voyages they say more whales have been sunk 

 than have been saved. The useless devasta- 

 tion thus caused among these huge denizens of 

 the deep has been very great. One practical 

 whaleman calculates the number of whales kill- 

 ed in one season on the northwest coast and 

 Kamtsohatka at 12,000. 



Would whalemen go provided with India- 

 rubber or bladder buoys, ready to be bent on to 

 harpoons and darted into a whale's carcass as 

 soon as " turned up," or when he is perceived 



