( i6i, ) 
Men can conveniently carry them, and yet they are 
twenty Feet long, and carry fix Men, hz. the Harpo- 
neer in the Fore-part of the Boat, four Oar-men, and 
the Steerf-man. Thefe Boats run very fwift, and by 
reafon of their Lightnefs can be brought on and off, and 
fo kept out of Danger. The Whale is fometimes killed 
with a finale Stroke, and yet at other Times lhe will 
hold the Whale-men in Play, near half a Day togetner, 
with their Lances, and fometimes they will get away 
after they have been lanced and fpouted blood, with 
Irons in them, and Drugs faflened to them, which ar^ 
thick Boards about fourteen Inches fquare. Our People 
formerly ufed to kill the Whale near the Shore ; but 
now they go off to Sea in Sloops and Whale- 
boats, in the Months of May , June , and July , be- 
tween Cape-Cod and Bermudas ; where they lie by in 
the Night, and fail to and again in the Day, and feldotn 
mifs of & them ; they bring home the Blubber in their 
Sloops. The true Seafon,for taking the right or Whale > 
bone Whale, is from the Beginning of June , to the End 
of May, for the Sperma Ceti Whale, from the Begin- 
ning of June^ to the End of Aupujl, And it has been 
obferved by our Filhermen, that when a Sperma Ceti 
Whale is ftruck, he ufually, if not always, throws the 
Excrements out of the Anus. 
8. The wonderful* and even prodigious Strength of 
this Creature, which lies principally in their Tails, 
that being both their offenfive and defenfive Weapon. 
Many Inftances of this Kind I have had from credible 
Perfons, who were Eye-witneifes j 1 wiil mention but a 
few. A Boat has been cut down from Top to Bottom 
with the Tail of a Whale, as if cut with a Saw, the 
Clap-boards fcarce fplinter’d, tho’ the Gunnel upon the 
Top is of tough Wood. Another has had the Stem, or 
■Stern-poft of about three Inches through, and of the 
Vol. XXXIII. P p toughed 
