332 Reminiscences of 



The boats, dropping out a buoy with sufficient 

 hne, with which they are prepared, return to the 

 shore, until the second day after, when if the whale 

 carcass is not yet up they wait for it as it is sure to 

 soon after come up, when it is towed to the trying 

 works. The Killers, whether actuated by a sense 

 of duty or not to render proper obsequies to the de- 

 parted, accompany the body to the surface and to 

 the trying works; but it may be a question if their 

 inclination to blubber has not a bearing on the sub- 

 ject, and if they are not influenced more by a self- 

 ish desire. 



At least the killers accompany the body to the 

 trying works, and are a safeguard against sharks, 

 giving themselves interim a replenishment of stom- 

 ach, which is a slight loss, compared with the ad- 

 vantages of their services. 



The Davidsons claim that with the late low prices 

 of oil they could not carry on the whaling busi- 

 ness without the aid of the killers, and have been 

 reticent about giving the information, which is 

 imparted here by one who claimed to have been a 

 personal witness on several occasions, acting as an 

 emploj'^e, and who states many other particulars ; that 

 there had been other occasions than those experi- 

 enced by the Davidsons, where the killers had ren- 

 dered material aid to whalers in the north seas, that 

 no instances had ever been known when the killers 

 had ever disturbed boats, or injured men in the water, 

 though the}' had been known repeatedly to approach 

 men who had been knocked overboard and to sniff 

 at, and go away from them, without any manifest- 

 ations of devouring interest; that they were, despite 



