i94 , VERTEBRATES 



tries fhe edge of the harpoon, and sees that the rope is properlj 

 coiled, as the slightest entanglement would upset the boat, or might 

 even drag it below water. 



It will be as well just to notice the different weapons used 

 in the whale fishery. The first and most important is the harpoon, 

 a kind of spear with a large barbed head, the shape of which is 

 not very unlike the flukes of an anchor. The edges of the baibs 

 are kept very sharp, as otherwise the harpoon would not penetrate 

 beyond the blubber, and the whale would consequently escape. 

 The head of the harpoon is not made of steel, as inexperienced 

 persons would imagine, but of soft iron, so soft that it can be 

 scraped to an edge with a knife. This is fixed to a wooden handle, 

 by which the harpooner holds it. In some vessels, the harpoon is 

 fired at the whale from a small cannon placed in the bow of the 

 boat. There are some very ingenious harpoons, one of which, in- 

 tended to be fired from a gun, has its barbs joined to the head by 

 a hinge, and held apart with a spring, so that when a whale is 

 struck the barbs collapse until the force of the blow is expended, 

 when the spring expands them and holds the whale firmly. The 

 common harpoon, however, is the weapon usually employed. 



To the harpoon is fastened a long and very tough line, about 

 4000 feet in length. This line is kept ready coiled in a tub at the 

 head of the boat, and great care is taken to prevent it from being 

 entangled. It runs over a kind of pulley, as the friction is so 

 great when the alarmed whale starts off, that the rope when out of 

 its place has repeatedly set the gunwale of the boat on fire. At 

 Deptford, some years back, might be seen a boat, the head of 

 which had been quite cut off by the rope. A bucket of water is 

 therefore always kept at hand to throw on the rope. When a 

 whale is struck, it sometimes runs out with the whole of the line, 

 in which case the line of another boat is fastened to it, and some- 

 times a whale has carried off three miles of line with it. When 

 the whale begins to slacken the line, it is immediately recoiled in 

 the tub, so as to be always under the command of the pursuers. 



The use of the harpoon is merely to hold the whale; it 

 does not enter deep, and causes the animal but little inconvenience, 



