288 
GREENLAND VOYAGE. 
. were rather numerous,—four or five being some¬ 
times seen at a time. The usual stay of a whale 
at the surface, for breathing, is about two minutes, 
seldom much longer; but it was a remarkable cir¬ 
cumstance in the conduct of these whales, that 
they remained regularly from five to fifteen mi¬ 
nutes at a time, and some nearly half an hour, be¬ 
fore they descended out of sight. During this 
long interval, they were generally perfectly mo¬ 
tionless, and afforded the most excellent opportu¬ 
nities for attacking them. Soon after the depar¬ 
ture of the boats, two whales were harpooned; 
but to our great grief and disappointment, both 
of them escaped, by the breaking of the “ fore- 
ganger,” or that part of the line immediately con¬ 
nected with the harpoon. In one case, the line, 
which had been much exposed to damp weather, 
appeared to have been faulty; but in the other, 
the line retained its full strength, and appeared to 
have been broken, by being wrapped round the 
tail of the fish, in a way that no cordage of ordi¬ 
nary thickness, under the tension sometimes oc¬ 
casioned by the bending of this member, could pos¬ 
sibly withstand. 
Notwithstanding these discouragements, we con¬ 
tinued to persevere for several hours, and at length 
another whale was struck. Assistance not being 
at hand, it was nearly two hours before a second 
