MAMMALIA. 
51 
Whale is diving perpendicularly down, swimming along under 
the water, or mounting to the surface, and they manoeuvre 
accordingly. It is now above all that the crew must blindly 
obey its officer ; it must be nothing but a rowing and', back- 
watering machine, for all of their lives depend on this. In 
these solemn moments fear takes possession of some' sailors. As 
soon as the Whale is made fast, they become of.' a livid pale- 
ness ; they lose their heads ; they see nothing, hear nothing, and 
can no longer obey a single command. It is very remarkable, 
that old sailors are more exposed than young ones to this excessive 
panic. When men are not soon cured of this unfortunate impres- 
sionability, they cease to make part of the crew of the whale-boat, 
where their presence could only be demoralising to the others. 
Harpooners, too, until then intrepid, have been known to become 
all of a sudden, and without any apparent cause, incapable of throw- 
ing a harpoon with force and accuracy. The simple fact of the 
Whale being close at hand strikes them with terror ; their arms, 
paralyzed by fear, suffer the weapon to fall flat and harmless on the 
Cetacean, which, warned by this simple touch, escapes as fast as 
possible. The true whaler knows no fear : he braves death, but 
is prudent. When the animal rises from its first dive, he draws 
the line taut, approaches the beast cautiously, not precipitately, but 
rather slowly. He knows that he must avoid’ the tail and the flippers ; 
he knows that the head is invulnerable, that a- wound in the abdomen 
is never immediately mortal, and that he ought to be quick and to 
get a fair aim so as to strike some vital part. What difficulties, 
and how long it sometimes is before the first lance can be cast ! 
And yet it is not one that is sufficient to cause the Whale’s death, 
but ten, twenty, and even more than that ; and even then they 
must have been planted in the proper parts of its body, or they 
will not produce the required effect. If a mortal wound is not 
inflicted in the first quarter of an hour, the Whale recovers from 
its alarm, regains its senses, and takes to flight, dragging its enemy 
after it : then there are the alternations of prolonged divings and 
rapid runnings in or towards the wind. The whale-boat, carried 
away with the swiftness of an arrow,, rushes through the waves, 
and seems to leave on each side of it a wall of vapour. In vain do 
two or three of the boats, throwing their painters to the one 
which is made fast to the Whale, come and get themselves towed 
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