196 MARINE MAM3IALS OF TEE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 



a knife in his hand, -n'hich they call the chopping -knife, and if the ice-field be 

 hollow, or spongy, or fall of holes in the middle, so that the whale can fetch 

 breath underneath it, and the rope is not long enough to follow him, and if the 

 ice be . several miles long, they draw the rope in as much as possibly they can, 

 until it be strait, and then he chops it off, loosing the piece of the rope whereon 

 the harpoon is fastened, that sticketh in the body of the whale, yet not vv'ithout 

 great loss, for oftentimes they run away with the lines that belong to five and 

 more sloops. It happens very often, that they run to the ice with the long-boats, 

 so that they dash againit it, as if they vrould break it into pieces, which also very 

 often happens. But when the whale rises again, they oftentimes fling one or two 

 more harpoons into him, according as they find he is tired more or less ; then he 

 dives under water again. Some swim or run even all along on the water, and they 

 play with their tail and fins, so that we must have great care that we may not 

 come too near them. When the whales fling their tails about in this manner, they 

 wind the line about their tail, so that we need not to fear the harpoon tearing 

 out, for then they are ty'd strong and firm enough with the rope. After they are 

 wounded, they spout with all their might and main, so that you may hear them as 

 far off as you may a cannon ; but when they are quite tired, it cometh out only 

 by drops, for he hath not strength enough to force the water up, and therefore it 

 sounds as if you held an empty mug or bottle under water, and the water runs 

 into it. And this sound is a certain sign of his feebleness, and that he is going to 

 expire. Some whales blow blood to the very last, after they have been wounded, 

 and these dash the men in the long-boats most filthilj', and dj-e the sloops red as if 

 they were painted with a red colour ; nay, the veiy sea is tinged red all along where 

 they swim. Those whales that are mortally wounded heat themselves, that they 

 reek while they are alive, and the birds sit on them, and eat on them while they 

 are still alive. When the whales blow up the water, they fling out with it some 

 fattish substance that floats upon the sea like sperm, and this fat the Mallemucks 

 devour greedily, of which several thousands attend him, so that a whale often hath 

 more attendants than a king hath servants. Sometimes also the harpoons break 

 out; then often long-boats of other ships attend, and as soon as they see that the 

 harpoon is come out, they fling their own into him, and the whale is theirs, altho' 

 the first harpoon hath almost kill'd the whale, yet if he doth get loose, the second 

 party claims him, and the first must look for another. Sometimes at the same time 

 two harpoons, belonging to two several ships, are struck into the whale ; such ones 

 are divided equally, and each one hath half: the other two, or three, or more sloops, 

 as many as there is of them, wait for the whales coming up again, and when they 



