96 NATURAL HISTORY. 



Davis' Straits. It was killed, and as is usual after the 

 capture, it was disentangled from the line connected with the 

 first 'fast boat' (the first boat which had struck it), by 

 dividing it at the splice of the foreganger (the part of the 

 rope fastened to the harpoon), within eight or nine yards of 

 the harpoon. The crew of the boat from which the ' fish' 

 was first struck, in the meantime were employed in heaving 

 in the lines by means of a winch fixed in the boat for the 

 purpose. On a sudden, however, to their great astonishment, 

 the lines were pulled away from them with the same force 

 and violence as by a whale when first struck. They repeated 

 their signal indication of a whale being struck ; their ship- 

 mates flocked towards them, and while every one expressed 

 a similar degree of astonishment with themselves, they all 

 agreed that a ' fish' was fast to the line. In a few minutes 

 they were agreeably confirmed in their opinion by the rising 

 of a large whale close by them, exhausted with fatigue, and 

 having every appearance of a ' fast fish.' It permitted 

 itself to be struck by several harpoons at once, and was 

 speedily killed. On examining it after death, they found the 

 line belonging to the boat in its mouth, where it was still 

 firmly fixed by the compression of its lips. The occasion of 

 this happy and puzzling incident was therefore solved. The 

 end of the line, after being cut, was sinking in the water 1he 

 ' fish' in question, engaged in feeding, was advancing with 

 its mouth wide open, and accidentally caught the line between 

 its extended jaws a sensation so utterly unusual as that pro- 

 duced by the line, had induced it to shut its mouth and grasp 

 the rope which was the cause of its alarm so firmly between 

 its lips as to produce the effect just stated. This circum- 

 stance took place many years ago, but a similar one occurred 

 in the year 1814."* 



The dangers undergone in this pursuit are very great. 

 Sometimes the boat is dashed to pieces by a blow from the tail of 

 the enraged whale ; sometimes the crew are left on the ice for 

 many hours, wet and frozen ; sometimes the ice-fields strike 

 together, and crush the ship between them, although tfie 

 vessel is strengthened in every possible way by cross-beams 

 and treble sheating ; sometimes a fog comes on and the boat 



* Scorrsby's Arctic Rpion., vol. ii. p. 264. 



