WHALE HUNTING WITH GUN AND CAMERA 



point of land, and in it the whales play back and 

 forth, feeding on the small fish which drift in with 

 the current. After stowing the sail, one of the canoes 

 with two of the men put out from the harbor while 

 the three of us who remained climbed over the rocks 

 to the highest point of the island. 



The wind had changed and blew strongly from the 

 southwest, topping the long swells with white and 

 churning the waves into foam as they broke along 

 the ragged shore line. Three or four whales could 

 be seen some distance away and the canoe headed for 

 them, as it swung around the point, in spite of the 

 rough water. With my glasses, I watched the little 

 craft bobbing about among the whitecaps, slowly near- 

 ing the specter-like forms which rose every few sec- 

 onds and sank, only to appear again a few feet far- 

 ther on. 



When they were about one hundred yards away, 

 the men became motionless and the boat drifted on- 

 ward with the wind. The porpoises paid not the 

 slightest attention to the canoe and went down only 

 a few feet ahead. As they left the water the man 

 in the bow suddenly leaned forward and with gun 

 ready waited the reappearance of the animals. They 

 came up not twenty feet away and hardly had their 

 snowy heads appeared above the surface when a thin 

 white line of smoke shot from the gun and the nearest 

 whale threw itself high in the air, falling back in a 

 cloud of spray. Instantly the canoe leaped forward, 

 the man in the bow balancing the harpoon, but the 

 whale straightened out and sank before he could 



270 



