402 MAMMA..A-WHALE. 
There is sull another and more powerful enemy, called by me fishermen 
of New England, the filler. This is itself supposed to be a cetaceous 
animal, armed with strong and powerful teeth. A number of these are 
said to surround the whale, in the same manner as dogs get round a bull. 
Some attack it with their teeth, behind; others attempt it before; until, at 
tast, the great animal is torn down; and its tongue is said to be the only 
part they devour when they have made it their prey. They are said to be 
of such great strength, that one of them alone was known to stop a dead 
whale, that several boats were towing along, and drag it from among them 
to the bottom. 
But of all the enemies of these enormous fishes, man is the greatest; he 
alone, destroys more in a year, than the rest in an age, and actually has 
thinned their number in that part of the world where they are chiefly 
sought. At the first discovery of Greenland, whales not being used to be 
disturbed, frequently came into the very bays, and were accordingly kille¢ 
almost close to the shore; so that the blubber being cut off was immediately 
boiled into oil on the spot. The ships in those times, took in nothing but 
the pure oil and the whalebone, and all the business was executed in the 
country; by which means, a ship could bring home the product of many 
more whales, than she can, according to the present method of conducting 
this trade. The fishery also was then so plentiful, that they were obligec 
sometimes to send other ships to fetch off the oil they had made, the quan- 
tity being more than the fishing ships could bring away. But time and 
change of circumstances, have shifted the situation of this trade. The ships 
coming in such numbers from Holland, Denmark, Hamburg, and other 
northern countries, all intruders upon the English, who were the first dis- 
coverers of Greenland, the whales were disturbed, and gradually, as other 
fish often do, forsaking the place, were not to be killed so near the shore as 
before; but are now found, and have been so ever since, in the openings 
and space among the ice, where they have deep water, and where they go 
sometimes a great many leagues from the shore. 
The whale fishery begins in May, and continues all June and linge but 
whether the ships have good or bad success, they must come away, and get 
clear of the ice, by the end of August; so that in the month of September 
at farthest, they may be expected home. But a ship that meets with a 
fortunate and early fishery in May, may return in June or July. 
The manner of taking the Greenland whales is as follows: — Every ship 
is provided with six boats, to each of which belongs six men for rowing the 
boat, and a harpooner, whose business it is to strike the whale with his 
harpoon. Two of these boats are kept constantly on the watch, at some 
distance from the ship, fastened to pieces of ice, and are relieved by others 
every four hours. As soon asa whale is perceived, both the boats set cut 
in pursuit of it, and if either of them can come up before the whale finally 
descends, which is known by his throwing up his tail, the harpooner dis- 
