ORDER OF CETACEA. 
49 
and outstretched neck, watch for the approach of the gigantic 
quarry. This is indicated by an eddy, a submarine vibration, and a 
roaring analogous to the suppressed noise of distant thunder. 
The animal has at last shown the extremity of his black muzzle 
above the water. We know already, from what Dr. Thiercelin has 
told us, by what alternations of blowings and soundings the 
creature makes its evolutions in the liquid medium. The whaler 
notices in what manner the Whale inclined its tail to guess the 
direction which it has taken, and he notes the presence of boete on 
the surface and at the bottom of the sea, so as to ascertain whether 
its soundings will be long or short, and then changes his direction 
according to the requirements of the moment. It is the exact 
knowledge of these details which makes the expert whaler. So 
the manoeuvres of the boat vary considerably, according to cir- 
cumstances. 
It is easy enough to approach to within fifteen or twenty fathoms 
of the Whale. But the difficulty is to arrive sufficiently near it to 
allow of a successful attack being made upon it ; that is to say, to 
within two or three fathoms’ distance. Blows from the tail and 
the flippers are now to be feared. When the boat is sufficiently near, 
the harpooner prepares to cast the harpoon at the Whale. This 
is the place to say something about the instrument. 
It is composed of two parts : the iron and the handle. 
The iron is a metal tube, funnel-shaped at one end and ter- 
minated at the other in a sort of reversed Y. The exterior edges 
of this Y are sharp, whilst the interior edges are thick and 
straight, in such a manner that when once in the flesh, the iron, 
retained there by the two points, cannot be torn out. The edges 
can also be barbed. This dart is more than a metre in length. 
It is fixed into a handle, which is pierced with a hole, in which 
is fixed a cord of about four hundred metres long. 
The harpooner stands, his thigh fitting into a hollow of the 
boat, holding his weapon with both hands. When the officer con- 
siders that the favourable moment has arrived, he cries out, 
“ Strike !” We will here let Dr. Thiercelin, an historian of, and 
an actor in, these exciting combats, speak for himself : — “ The 
harpoon vibrates,” says he, “ traverses space, penetrates into the 
blubber, plunges and fixes itself into the fleshy and tendinous or 
sinewy parts. And here I ought to remark how few harpoons 
E 
