KILL A WHITE WHALE. 213 



The 21st "being Sunday, we stayed on board, 

 and I wrote up the last few pages of this 

 Journal. 



About 3 A.M. on the 22nd we were aroused 

 by a report of many white whales being along- 

 side ; we got up instantly, and jumped into 

 the boats with our rifles. There was a very 

 dense fog, but the bay seemed to be full of 

 the whales, as we heard them blowing all 

 around the vessel ; we pulled off into the fog 

 where the blowing seemed most frequent, and 

 soon found ourselves surrounded by twenty 

 or thirty of these animals, shoving up their 

 heads and backs, and spouting. They were of 

 a brilliant, shining, snowy whiteness, and when 

 they were near us, we could see them swim- 

 ming under water. We lay on our oars, and 

 I waited a little for a good chance, until at 

 last I saw a large one under water approach- 

 ing the boat ; holding my rifle ready at my 

 shoulder, I was quite prepared for him, and 

 the instant he appeared above the surface I 

 shot him through the head, immediately be- 

 hind the blowholes. He disappeared in a 

 cloud of foam and blood, but upon rowing 

 quickly to the spot, I was just in time to strike 

 a walrus harpoon into him as he sank about 



p 3 



