182 
CHASE AND CAPTURE 
in the ship* accompanied by exclamations loud and 
deep, and not of the most favourable kind to us, from 
all the rest. But onwards they all came, and soon 
cheerfully rendered assistance to complete its destruc- 
tion ; but which was not done, however, without consi- 
derable difficulty, the whale continuing to descend the 
moment either of the boats got nearly within dart of 
him. But after an hour's exertion in this way, six out 
of the ten boats which were now engaged got fast to 
him by their harpoons, but not one of them could get 
near enough to give him a fatal lance ; he towed them 
all in various directions for some time, taking care to 
descend below the surface the moment a boat drew 
up over his flukes, or otherwise drew near, which ren- 
dered it almost impossible to strike him in the body, 
even when the lance was darted, although the after part 
of his small ’ 5 was perforated in a hundred places : from 
these wounds the blood gushed in considerable quanti- 
ties, and as the poor animal moved along, towing the 
boats, he left a long ensanguined stain in the ocean. 
At last, becoming weak from his numerous and deep 
wounds, he became less capable of avoiding his foes, 
which gave an opportunity for one of them to pierce 
him to the life ! — dreadful was that moment the acute 
pain which the leviathan experienced, and which roused 
the dormant energies of his gigantic frame. As the 
life’s blood gurgled thick through the nostril, the im- 
mense creature went into his “ flurry” with excessive 
fury, the boats were speedily sterned off, while he beat 
the water in his dying convulsions with a force that 
appeared to shake the firm foundation of the ocean ! 
