tliem j but \¥hen they are attacked, and begin to howl, 
filch as a.re within hearing run to their Afliftance, and 
the old ones will rather fuffer themfeivcs to be killed,' 
than defert their Young. The largeft are thofe which are 
called Water-Bears, which live upon what they can get 
at Sea, and have been fometimes found fourteen Miles 
from Shore. The Skins of thofe Creatures make very 
Comfortable Cloathing for fuch as travel in tlie W inter, 
and are dreffed at Spitzbergen, by treading them in hot 
Sawdiift. 
The Deer in Greenland are grey and iliaggy in Spring, 
afterwards of a duilcy Colour, with cleft Feet, and Horns 
like a Hart, or Elk. They have three or four Branches 
on each Side, about two Inches broad, and a Foot long •, 
their Ears are long, and their Tails Ihort. By feeding 
upon the yellow Mofs, they grow fo very fat in three 
Months, that they cut fometimes four Inches deep on 
the Ribs, which enables them to hold out during the Win- 
ter ; and yet many of them are flarved, and in the Spring 
they are all very lean. At the Sight of a Man they fly •, 
but, if he flops, they flop too, and this gives an Oppor- 
tunity for fhooting them. Their Flefh is exceeding good 
roaffed. There are Foxes here of various Colours, and 
prodigious Numbers of Seals, or Sea-dogs, and Sea- 
horfes, v/hich are the fame that, in the South-Seas, are 
called Sea-lions j Animals which we fhall hereafter de- 
fcribe. There are very few Land Fowl ; but of Water 
Fowl abundance, yet none fo curious as to merit a De- 
fcription here. 
1 8. As for the Fifh on this Coafl, they deferve Notice, 
becaufe the taking them is the foie Motive that brings 
Ships into thofe Seas, wFere the Whale-fifhing is carried 
on with great Profit. The truC; large Whale differs 
from the refl of the FilE fo called by his having no 
Teeth, inftead of which, on each Side of the upper Jaw, 
grov/s the Whale-bone, in four or five hundred different 
Blades, at equal Diflances, fome exceeding twelve Feet 
in Length, and a Foot broad at Bottom, growing nar- 
row upwards, like the Sticks of a Fan inverted, the largefl 
of them weighing about twenty Pounds. 
He contrafls and dilates the Diflances of thofe Blades 
at the fliutting and opening his Mouth, making them 
ferve as Strainers, to feparate the Water from the Shrimps, 
Prawns, and fuch fmall Fifli as his Food confifls of ; and, 
for the fame Purpcfe, on the Infide of the Bone, next 
the Tongue, grows a Quantity of Hair, to make flill a 
finer Percolation, which is the more neceffary, becaufe, 
notwithflanding the Bulk of a Whale’s Body, the Throat 
of the largefl is not above a Foot wide. His Bones are 
hard, like thofe of four-footed Beafls ; but, inflead of hav- 
ing one large Cavity in the Middle, are porous, and full of 
Marrow. His Eyes meafure about fix Inches over, with 
Eye-lids and Hair like a Man’s. His Belly and Back 
are quite red •, his Flefii is coarfe and hard, like that of a 
Bull, mixed with many Sinews, and is very dry and lean, 
becaufe the Fat lies between the Flefh and the Skin. The 
Fat is mixed with Sinews, which holds the Oil as a Spunge 
does Water j the other flrong Sinews are about the Tail, 
with which he turns and winds himfelf, as a Ship is guid- 
ed by a Rudder. 
Fie fwims as fwift as a Bird flies, and makes a Track 
in the Sea like a large Ship under fail. Befides the upper- 
mofl thin Skin, there is another almofl an Inch thick ; 
but neitlier of them are very flrong, which is believed to be 
the Reafon why the Whale does not exert that mighty Force 
that might be expected from a Fifh of its Size. They are 
mightily tormented v/ith Lice, which makes them fome- 
. times fpring out of the Sea in an Agony. It is alfo be- 
lieved they feel great Pains in their Bodies before a Storm, 
v/hich makes them twill and tumble violently while the 
Vv ind blows from the Eafl ; but, notwithflanding their 
violent Agitation, they are naturally very timorous. The 
middle Sort of them are from fifty to fixty Feet long, 
and yield from feventy to a hundred Barrels of Blubber ^ 
though fometimes they are muclr larger. Martens mentions 
one that yielded a hundred and thirty Floglheads. This 
Blubber lies immediately under the Sldn 5 tlilC y cut it into 
thin Slices, which are put into hot Coppers. The Oil 
foon melting out, the Skin is thrown away. The Tail 
ferves for a Chopping-block, Upon which they cut the 
Blubber before it is boiled. The Manner of taking the 
Whale deferves a particular Defcription.. 
19. As foon as the Filhermen hear a Whale blow, 
they cry out, Fall, fall! And then every Ship gets out 
its Long-boat, in each of which there are fix of feven 
Men ; they row till they come pretty near, then the 
Harpooneer flrikes him with his Harpoon, which is a 
fliarp Iron, refembling the Flead of an Arrow, fixed to 
a Stick ; and this requires great Dexterity. Through the 
Bone of his Head there is no flriking •, but, near his Spout, 
there is a foft Piece of Flefh, into which the Iron finks 
with Eafe. As foon as he is ftruck, they take care to 
give him Rope enough ; for otherwife, when lie goes 
down, as he frequently does, he would inevitably fink 
the Boat: and this Rope he draws fo quick, that, if k 
were not well watered, . it would fet the Boat on fire. 
The Line faftened to the Harpoon is fix or feven Fathom 
long, and is called the Forerunner. It is made of the 
fineft and the foftefi: Hemp, that it may flip the eafier. To 
this they join a Heap of Lines, of ninety or a hundred 
Fathom each; and, when there are not enough in one 
Long-boat, they borrow from another. 
The Man at the Helm obferves which Way the Rope 
goes, and fleers the Boat accordingly, that it may run 
exa6lly out before ; for the Whale runs away with the 
Line as fall as the Wind, • and would overturn the Boat 
if it were not kept flrait. When the Whale is ftruck, 
the other. Long-Boats row before, and obferve which 
Way the Line flands, and fometimes pull it: If they 
feel it fliff, it is a Sign the Vf hale flill pulls in Strength ; 
but if it hangs loofe, and the Boat lies equally high be- 
fore and behind upon the Water, they pull it in gently, 
but take Care to lay it fo that the Whale may have it 
eafily again, if he recovers Strength. If he runs out 
one Level, as he fometimes does, they take Care not to 
give him too much Line, becaufe he fometimes intangles 
it about a Rock, and fo pulls out the Harpoon. The 
fat Whales do not fink as foon as dead, but the lean 
ones do, and come up fome Days afterwards. They be- 
gin to flink as foon as they expire, and their Fleflr fer- 
ments, creating fuch a Steam as inflames weak Eyes, 
When they fee him fpout out Blood, they know that he 
draws towards Ins End, and then prepare for cutting him 
up. In order to this, they hawl him clofe to the Ship- 
fide, and with great Knives flice his Sides, raifing the 
Blubber by a Hook and a Pully, which they lift up as 
they cut. Many of thefe great Flakes they firing upon 
a Rope, and fo drag them on Shore, where they are 
heaved up by a Crane laid upon the Whale’s Tail, and 
chopp’d into fmall Pieces ; afterwards hew’d into Pieces 
no bigger than Trenchers, and fo thrown into Coppers ; 
and as foon as they become brown, are called Fritters, 
taken out, and caft away. 
The Liquor is then laded out into a Boat half full of 
Water to cool and cleanfe it ; and thence, by long 
Troughs, that it may be more cool, conveyed into Hogf- 
heads clofe to the Shore. In the mean time the Head is 
cut off, and drawn as near as can be to the Shore, and 
hoifled up by a Crane till the Whale-Bone is cut out, and 
tied up by Fifties, and then the reft of the Head is boiled 
for Oil. The Tongue, v/hich in its Figure refembles 
nearly that of a Wool-Pack, is craned up with great 
Care : That of a large Vf hale will weigh about eight Ton, 
and will yield from fix to eleven Flogfheads of Oil, tho’ 
there have been Inflances of their yielding twenty-four 
Hogfheads ; but this is look’d upon as a Thing very ex- 
traordinary. The Ships that ufe this Trade carry thirty 
or forty Men, five or fix Sloops, and from four-hundred 
to eight-hundred Hogfheads of Blubber. Their Arms 
confiflof fixty Launces, fix Sea-HorfeLaunces,forty Flar- 
poons,ten long Harpoons for flriking Whales under Wa- 
ter, fix fmall Sea-Horfe Flarpoons, and thirty Lines of 
ninety or a hundred Fathom each. 
20. There are in thefe Seas feveral other kind of va- 
luable Fifli, many of which are looked upon to be of the 
Whale-kind ; of thefe the mofl remarkable is the Fin- 
Fifh, which is full as long, tho’ not fo thick, as the 
W^hale, by two Thirds ; Fie blows Water higher than a 
z Vv hale 
