76 
VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
pointed out, it rose, and lay upon the water, as if in 
a torpid state, until it received the fatal harpoon ; 
on the call of “ a fall !” five other boats were de- 
spatched, and the fish soon rose again in water free 
from ice, where it exhibited less energy than is usual 
in such cases ; as the ship was brought to the scene 
of action, we had an opportunity of distinguishing 
all that passed. The boats having approached it, 
and applying their missiles of destruction, it soon 
gave evident signs of exhaustion, making but one 
feeble struggle to disengage itself from its enemies ; 
in doing which, it warned the boats to keep at a 
safe distance, while it rolled about in the agonies of 
death, until it had lost its strength, when the lances 
terminated its existence. It was a very large fish, 
in many parts striped, and marked with large spots 
of the purest white. The edges of the fins and tail 
were diversified, and beneath it was much marked 
with the same colour; its nose and lower jaw were 
yellow, an evident symptom of great age ; and pro- 
bably its easy capture may be attributed to the 
decay of nature, as manifested in its feeble resist- 
ance and early exhaustion. It was towed to the ship 
for flincing, when nothing was particularly observ- 
able, but that its skin was thinner, its blubber of a 
higher colour than usual, and the reticulated cells 
in which the oil is contained, much thicker and 
tougher, and consequently retaining less oil than 
is found in a full-grown proper-aged fish. The 
length of its laminae was twelve feet eleven inches 
