34 THE WALHTJS HARPOON, 



Each boat is usually provided with six har- 

 poon heads, fitting, three on each side, inside 

 of the how, into little racks covered with cur- 

 tains of painted canvass to protect their sharp 

 points and edges from being blunted or acci- 

 dentally wounding the men. These harpoons 

 are used indifferently for the seal and the 

 walrus, and are, with all their apparent sim- 

 plicity, the most perfect weapon that can be 

 contrived for the purpose. When the instru- 

 ment is thrust into the animal and his struggles 

 draw tight the line, the larger outer barb takes 

 up, as it were, a loop of his gutta-percha-like 

 hide, or the tough reticulated fibres containing 

 his blubber, while the small inner barb, like 

 that of a fish-hook, prevents it from becoming 

 disengaged. The best proof of its excellence is, 

 that when a walrus is once properly harpooned 

 and the line tight, he very rarely escapes. 

 Each of these harpoon heads has grummeted 

 round its neck one end of a line of twelve 

 or fifteen fathoms long, each line being neatly 

 coiled up in a separate flat box under the front 

 thwart, and the opposite end secured to some 

 strong part of the boat inside. The lines do not 

 require to be longer, because the walrus is not 

 generally found in water more than fifteen 



