MAMMALIA. 61 



"WTiale is diving perpendicularly down,, swimming along under 

 the water, or mounting to the surface, and they manceuvre 

 accordingly. It is now above all, that the crew must blindly 

 obey its officer; it must be nothing but a rowing and back- 

 watering machine, for all of their lives depend on this. In 

 these solemn moments fear takes possession of some sailors. As 

 soon as the Whale is made fast, , they become of a livid pale- 

 ness ; they lose their heads ; they see nothing, hear nothing, and 

 can no longer obey a single command. It is very remarkable, 

 that old sailors arc more exposed than young ones to this excessive 

 panic. When men are not soon cured of this unfortunate impres- 

 sionability, they cease to make part of the crew of the whale-boat, 

 where their presence could only be demoralising to the others. 

 Ilarpooners, too, until then intrepid, have been known to become 

 all of a sudden, and without any apparent cause, incapable of throw- 

 ing a harpoon with force and accuracy. The simple fact of the 

 Whale being close at hand strikes them with terror ; their arms, 

 paralyzed by fear, suffer the weapon to fall flat and harmless on tlie 

 Cetacean, which, warned by this simple toiich, escapes as fost as 

 possible. The true whaler knows no fear : he braves death, but 

 is prudent. When the animal rises from its first dive, he draws 

 the line taut, approaches the beast cautiously, not precipitately, but 

 rather slowly. He knows that he must avoid the tail and the flipf)ers ; 

 he knows that the head is invulnerable, that a wound in the abdomen 

 is never immediately mortal, and that he ought to be quick and to 

 get a fair aim so as to strike some vital part. What difficulties, 

 and how long it sometimes is before the first lance can be cast ! 

 And yet it is not one that is sufficient to cause the Whale's death, 

 but ten, twenty, and even more than that ; and even then they 

 must have been planted in the proper parts of its body, or they 

 will not produce the required effect. If a mortal wound is not 

 inflicted in the first quarter of an hour, the Whale recovers from 

 its alarm, regains its senses, and takes to flight,, dragging its enemj' 

 after it : then there are the alternations of prolonged divings and 

 rapid runnings in or towards the wind. The whale-boat, carried 

 away with the swiftness of an arrow, rushes through the waves, 

 and seems to leave on each side of it a wall of vapour. In vain do 

 two or three of the boats, throwing their painters to the one 

 which is made fast to the Whale, come and get themselves towed 



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