68 
diverging from the harpoon at an angle 
of nearly forty degrees, to prevent the 
instrument from flinching and losing its 
hold. There are also several lances, or 
spears, about six feet long, the points of 
which are about two inches broad: by 
these the whales are killed after being 
struck with the harpoons. 
A boat’s crew consists of a harpooner, 
a boat-steerer, a line- manager, and three 
or four men, more or less, according to 
the size of the boat. 
2d, Cast off, and made for a large Ice¬ 
berg, one mile to the east, to which we 
made fast, and were soon after closed in 
by the ice. This Iceberg was twenty 
feet high, and mostly composed of fresh 
water ice. We had not been above two 
hours in this situation before a strong 
gale cleared away the ice, and we dis¬ 
covered South Cape in Spitzbergen, bear¬ 
ing north east, distant thirty miles. 
May 3d, Sailed for Charles Island oa 
