THE DUTCH WHALERS 99 



it looked indeed a cumbersome craft to manoeuvre in a 

 whale hunt. The reason, of course, was that it did not 

 share with the American whaleboat the advantage of 

 having an Indian canoe for an ancestor. The New 

 Englanders might still be only on the threshold of deep-sea 

 whaling but they took with them in their little sloops 

 boats that were much more highly developed for whale 

 hunting than those of the European whalemen. 



Tt is fitted with gear for hunting,' replied Joseph, 'so 

 I can only assume that it is one of their whaleboats, though 

 I find it difficult to believe. Do you notice how the 

 loggerhead is in the bows and not in the stern?' 



'Yes, it is just an extension of the stempiece,' replied 

 Jonathan. 



Then from across the water there came a new strange 

 call. 



'Val! Va-a-a-al!' 



The call echoed through the fleet as one ship after 

 another took up the cry. 



Only about a half-mile from the Der Browery bowheads 

 were shooting their tall crystal fountains into the air. 



The Greenland whales were not gregarious creatures 

 but on this occasion as so often happened the yellowish 

 streams of minute sea creatures known as brit on which 

 they fed had drawn them together in search of food. 

 With their wide opened mouths forming caverns each big 

 enough to admit a horse and cart they scooped up many 

 tons of water containing these myriad minute Crustacea. 

 Then the great jaws would shut with a snap and the 

 water would be forced from the corners of their mouths 

 by the piston action of their tongues and the tiny sea 

 creatures strained off by the curtains of hair-covered 

 whalebone as if by giant shrimping nets. 



Jaws opening, scooping, shutting and all the while 

 from their close-set twin blowholes sending up their single 

 tall spouts, the whales swam down the wind and between 



