134 WHALE FISHING. 



head, discovers a whale, the fishermen take to their boats, and 

 with muffled oars approach him in silence. One of them stands 

 erect in the bows, holding a harpoon, a species of javelin, the 

 deeply barbed head of which is attached to a strong cord, six or 

 seven hundred feet in length. The harpooner of the first boat that 

 arrives within reach of the whale, throws his weapon so as to 

 cause it to penetrate deeply and remain firmly in the body of the 

 animal, who, feeling the wound, sometimes turns violently, and 

 exerts his powerful tail with so much force as to shatter the boat 

 or hurl it into the air. Generally, however, the whale dives im- 

 mediately, dragging after him the cord attached to the iron that 

 has been planted in his flesh. This is the critical moment for the 

 fishermen. If the cord does not run out with sufficient rapidity, 

 or gets hitched, the whale sinks the boat and all the crew, and 

 sometimes it has happened that sailors, by being caught in a 

 loop of the swiftly running cord, have been almost cut in two 

 and thrown into the sea never to be seen again on its surface. 

 The rapidity with which the animal flies is such that the cord, 

 from rubbing against the side of the boat, produces dense smoke, 

 and would take fire were it not kept constantly wet. When the 

 first line has almost run out, the fisherman attach a second, then 

 a third, and so on till they have in use all they have on board, 

 and all that the other boats can supply. The length of line they 

 let out in this way, sometimes exceeds ten thousand feet : never- 

 theless, it is not always enough, and then they are obliged to cut 

 loose and abandon all this mass of cordage as well as their har- 

 poon, while the whale prolongs his flight without returning to 

 the surface. Sometimes the animal remains under water more 

 than half an hour; but the necessity of breathing forces him 

 to come to the surface, and the fishermen who are dispersed about, 

 to be more within striking distance, endeavour to plant a second 

 harpoon in his body or pierce it with lances. When the whale 

 thus rises, he is ordinarily in a state of extreme exhaustion, and, 

 in proportion as his blood flows, he becomes more enfeebled; 

 often when death is near, he yet makes a last and terrible effort, 

 raises his tail above the water, and agitates it with a convulsive 

 movement which can be heard at a distance of several miles. 

 Finally, succumbing altogether, he turns upon his side and ex- 

 pires. The fishermen hasten to pierce his tail and tie to it ropes 

 by means of which they secure the immense carcass to the side 

 of their ship ; then, armed with large knives and a sharp instru- 

 ment in the form of a spade, they get upon it and cut off the 

 blubber in slices which is afterwards tried out. 



