The SJiark Fishery for the Oil obtained. 231 



the fish no sooner feels the weapon than he dives with great 

 celerity. 



Everything must be clear, to allow the line to run out 

 freely ; and it does so with such rapidity as to require one 

 of the men to be incessantly pouring water over the swivel 

 on which the line traverses, to prevent its igniting. Should 

 the line unfortunately catch any projecting piece of wood, or 

 meet with any impediment, the boat is inevitably capsized ; 

 or should one of the men, through carelessness or 

 accident, be caught by the line round the leg or arm, which 

 has occasionally happened, he gets hauled down by the 

 fish. Another man, therefore, always stands ready with an 

 axe to cut the line ; but when such an accident does occur, 

 generally both man and fish are lost. When the fish has 

 reached the bottom, he proceeds along it, continuing to 

 drag the boat with him, until his strength becomes ex- 

 hausted. A lean fish holds out longer than a fat one, and 

 will sometimes continue dragging for four and twenty hours, 

 while a fat one generally gets tired out in three or four 

 hours. 



When thoroughly exhausted, the fish is hauled up to 

 the surface alongside the boat, and with a long, sharp 

 knife, the fin is instantly cut off to prevent his striking, as 

 a blow would readily smash the boat. He is then speared 

 until quite dead. Before commencing to extract the liver, 

 the fish is fastened by sundry ropes to the mast, and 

 turned, when one of the men, provided with a long knife 

 for the purpose, opens the fore part of the belly, which 

 enables him to take out a large piece of the liver. He 

 then insinuates his arm in, and separates all the fibres and 

 integuments, so as effectually to release the liver, which 

 operation requires to be carefully performed. When com- 

 pleted, the stomach is ripped up from end to end. The 



