328 FISHING FOR SHARKS. 



twelve barrels) obtained from its liver. The process is as 

 follows : * 



If the end of April is hot, the sun-fish are certain to 

 show above the water, and remain on the Clew bank 

 till the end of May. They are found there in great num- 

 bers, and their large dorsal fin may be seen at a great 

 distance, as it rises three or four feet out of the water, 

 while they lie motionless on the surface basking in the 

 sun. At this time they are easily approached, and struck 

 with a harpoon ; the boat employed for this purpose ap- 

 proaches the fish with a man in the bow ready to harpoon 

 it; the line attached to the harpoon is two hundred 

 fathoms long, and is coiled up in the bow ; a man stands 

 by with a hatchet ready to cut it, should it become en- 

 tangled in running out. When the fish feels the iron, he 

 dives with a sudden rush, carrying out from seventy to a 

 hundred and fifty or two hundred fathoms of line ; and 

 reaching the bottom, it rolls and rubs itself to get rid of 

 the harpoon. 



The fishermen allow it an hour to waste its strength 

 in these fruitless efforts before they begin to haul in 

 the harpoon line. They coil up the slack of it again, in 

 preparation for another rush, and in this way play with 

 the huge creature, sometimes for eight or nine hours, be- 

 fore they can bring it to the surface. When it at last 

 rises, they strike it with two or three more harpoons; and 

 on these being fixed, they are in a position to haul it 

 alongside with the harpoon lines. Then they stretch the 

 fish fore and aft along the vessel's side, and get a rope 

 round its head, and a hawser round its tail ; after which 

 they deal two deep cuts, one on each side of the tail, with 



* Brabazon. cit. by Conch. "British Fishes," i. 62, 63. 



