WHALING. 257 



whose disposition is said to be mild and inoffensive, except 

 when its young is attacked, when it is as bold as a lion and 

 manifests an affection which is truly interesting. On this 

 occasion the old whale continued to swim round the young 

 one, to roll over in the water as if to allure it from its 

 pursuers, evincing the tenderest maternal solicitude. Then 

 as if aware of the impending peril of her inexperienced 

 offspring, as the boat drew near she would swim round her 

 calf in decreasing circles, showing the utmost anxiety to 

 draw it seaward, failing in which she would lash the blue 

 waters into foam with repeated blows of the tremendous 

 flukes of her powerful tail, causing reverberations like a 

 thousand thunders ; and, to my astonishment, for I had 

 never heard or read that the whale had any such ability, 

 jumping as high out of the water in proportion to her size, 

 as I have ever seen a lively salmon or a spotted trout. 



Before taking out all the line from the boat's crew, the 

 young whale, in which the harpoon was firmly fixed, began 

 to ascend towards the surface, and the line was then hauled 

 in by the men and coiled away in the tub kept for the 

 purpose by the steersman. The moment the whale came 

 up so as to be enabled to breathe and blow, " he went 

 smoking off like a locomotive with an express." The men 

 held on manfully to the line, and with oars peaked ready 

 to be seized in a moment, away again they dashed in the 

 track of the whale. Had they been yoked to a team of 

 wild horses travelling over glassy ice, their rate of travelling 



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