FISHES. 



413 



soon as he discovers one, the whole crew are instantly in em- 

 ployment ; they fit ont their boats and row away to where the 

 whale was seen. The harpooner, who is to strike the fish, 

 stands at the prow of the boat, with a harpoon or javelin in his 

 hand, five or six feet long, pointed with steel like the barb of an 

 arrow, of a triangular shape. As this person's place is that of 

 the greatest dexterity, so also it is of the greatest danger : the 

 whale sometimes overturns the boat with a blow of its tail ; or 

 drives against it with fury. In general, however, the animal seems 

 to bleep on the surface of the water : while the boat is approach- 

 ing, the harpooner stands aloft, and with his harpoon tied to a 

 cord of several hundred fathom length, darts it into the animal, 

 and then rows as fast as possible away. It is some time before 

 the whale seems to feel the blow ; the instrument has usually 

 pierced no deeper than the fat, and that being insensible, the 

 animal continues for a while motionless ; but soon roused from 

 its seeming lethargy, as the shaft continues to pierce deeper and 

 deeper into the muscular flesh, it flies ofl!'with amazing rapidity. 

 In the meantime, the harpoon sticks in its side, while the rope, 

 which is coiled up in the boat, and runs upon a swivel, lengthens 

 as ihe whale recedes, but still shows the part of the deep to 

 which it has retreated. The cord is coiled up with great care i 

 for such is the rapidity with which it runs off, that if it was but 

 the least checked, as it yields with the animal's retreat, it would 

 infallibly overset the boat, and the crew would go to the bottom. 

 It sometimes happens also, that the rapidity with which it runs 

 over the swivel at the edge of the boat, heats it, and it would in- 

 fallibly take fire, did not a man stand continually with a wet mop 

 in his hand, to cool the swivel as the cord runs.* The whale 

 having dived to a considerable depth, remains at the bottom, 

 sometimes for near half an hour, with the harpoon in its body, 

 and then rises to take breath, expecting the danger over ; but thtj 

 instant it appears, they are all with their boats ready to receive 

 it, and fling the harpoons into its body ; the animal again dives 

 and again rises, while they repeat their blows. The ship fol- 



hii77.as raised from tho siirronnrlinp boats. No time islost.in picninpr tlio 

 tail with two liolos, tliroiijfh whioh mpps arc passod, which boiiig fastened 

 i<> the boats, drag the fish to the vessel amid shoiitii of joy. 



* It is also cuRtoinary to have a man Rtatioiied with an a.xe, ready to cut 

 the rope asunder should it become entauKled. 



2 K 3 



