WHALE HUNTING WITH GUN AND CAMERA 



preferably a fjord with shallow water at the head 

 and as reinforcements arrive the men are arranged 

 in definite formation by the director of the hunt. 



The progress of the herd is very slow at first, about 

 a mile an hour, but when once well within the .fjord 

 itself the boat crews close in, begin to beat the water 

 vigorously with their oars, and to throw stones among 

 the most backward of the school. 



Perhaps the porpoises may suddenly turn and break 

 for the open sea, and then follows a race by the out- 

 lying boats to cut them off. Instead of diving or 

 rushing the boats which block their way, the guileless 

 grind turn about tumultuously and once more race up 

 the fjord. When the school is thoroughly scared, they 

 break away again and again with a mad dash, only to 

 be turned back by the encircling boats, until they reach 

 the shallow water at the end of the fjord and rush far 

 up toward the shelving shore. 



As soon as they begin floundering about at the wa- 

 ter's edge,, a little crowd of fishermen who have been 

 hiding behind the rocks, dash into the water and grasp- 

 ing the stranded whales by the fins plunge sharp knives 

 into the necks of the struggling brutes. 



Meanwhile in slightly deeper water the boatmen 

 are spearing the porpoises not already stranded. 

 Everywhere there is an atmosphere of carnage ; the air 

 itself becomes infected with the odor of blood. In the 

 fjord, now stained crimson, there is a confused mass 

 of boats and blood-splashed men wading fearlessly 

 among the floundering whales. Some of these make 

 mad rushes for shore, scattering groups of men bend- 



292 



