282 FISHEKIES OF THE UNITED STATES. [12] 



and sliding iron collars with rigid eyes, into which the iron straps are 

 made fast, which, as is the case with the loops when the irons are placed 

 in the barrel of the guns, remain on the outside; or they may be made 

 with fluted shanks and the iron strap folded in the grooves and placed 

 in the barrel with the instrument, the ends of the straps, to which the 

 whale line is made fast, hanging from the muzzle. 



From the following account of this kind of instrument contained in 

 Falconer's Marine Dictionary (1830) it appears that the English at that 

 date used a chain strap instead of rope for malting fast the whale line. 

 "Gun harpoon (liarpoon qui se darde dans un mousqueton, Fr.), a weapon 

 used for the same purpose as above [the Harpoon, Harping-iron, Har- 

 pon, a pecker les baleines], but is fired out of a gun instead of being thrown 

 by hand. It is made of steel and has a chain attached to it, to which 

 the line is fastened." 



The shoulder-gun irons are lighter and usually shorter than those 

 intended for the swivel gun, and are almost always made with a mova- 

 ble barb or toggle; those intended for the swivel gun, though the "tog- 

 gle" is the prevailing style, are sometimes manufactured with fixed 

 double-barbed heads. 



WHALEMAN'S LAHCES. 



The lances used in the whale fishery may be divided into two classes: 

 (1) the non-explosive and (2) the explosive. 



Of the first class there are several types, including those which may 

 be used as hand instruments or as projectiles from guns; and of the 

 second class many styles have been introduced which were desigued to 

 be used exclusively with guns. For convenience' sake, and in order 

 that a more intelligent classification may be made, and a less compli- 

 cated system adopted, the whale lances will be provisionally grouped 

 as follows: (1) The non-explosive hand-lance, (2) the explosive hand- 

 lance, (3) the non-explosive gun-lance, and (4) the explosive gun-lance 

 or bomb. 



HAND-LANCES. 



The non-explosive Hand-Lance. — The hand-lance with non-ex- 

 plosive head was the primitive instrument adopted by civilized races 

 for killing whales after they had been fastened to with the harpoon and 

 line. The shanks of these instruments are manufactured from the best 

 Swedish iron, and, including the heads, vary in length from five and a 

 half to six feet. The heads, cast-steel, are about three inches long and 

 two inches wide, spoon-shaped, convex on both sides, and in some in- 

 stances have grooves or longitudinal furrows which were probably de- 

 signed, after the manner of some of the Indian arrows, to permit the 

 egress of blood in order that it might flow freely from the wound and 

 weaken the victim. The heads of the hand-lances have four cutting 

 edges, and are, of course, barbless, as it is intended that the instrument 



