from which as much as one hundred and twenty barrels may be obtained, from
others less.
‘ On seeing this huge fish they embark promptly in their boats, and by force
of oars or wind go as close as they may. Seeing the Whale between two waves,
at the same instant the harpooner is at the front of the boat with a harpoon,
which is an iron two feet long and one half broad at the wings, hafted on a staff
the length of a half-pike, at the middle of which there is a groove where the line
is attached ; and as soon as the harpooner sees his chance, he throws his harpoon
at the Whale, the same entering well forward. As soon as it (the Whale) feels
itself wounded, it goes to the bottom. And if by chance on returning a number
of times, it assaults the boat or the men with its tail, it shatters them like a
glass.
‘ This is all the risk they run of being killed in harpooning it. But as soon
as they have cast the harpoon, they let their line run out till the Whale is at the
bottom ; and sometimes, as it does not go down directly, it tows the boat more
than eight or nine leagues, and goes as fast as a horse, and the men are very
often compelled to cut their line, fearing that the Whale may drag them under
the water. But when it goes directly to the bottom it remains there a little
time and then returns quietly to the surface; and as fast as it rises, they take
in their line little by little, and then when it is on top they place two or three
boats around it with their lances, with which they give it many thrusts ; and
feeling itself struck the Whale descends directly below the surface, losing blood
and becoming enfeebled in such a manner that it has no more strength nor
vitality, and coming again to the surface, they succeed in killing it. When it is
dead it does not go down to the bottom again ; and then they fasten to it
good ropes and tow it ashore, in the place where they have their try works,
which is the place where they boil the blubber of the Whale in order to extract
the oil.
‘ Such is the manner in which they fish and not by shooting with guns, as
many think, as I have said above.’ 1
During the seventeenth century the Southern Right Whale seems to have
been regularly hunted by the colonists of the coast of Massachusetts, just as they
are still occasionally seen and chased to-day off Long Island, N.Y., and North
Carolina. The last Southern Right Whale killed off the coast of Newfoundland
was captured in Hermitage Bay about fifty years ago, and since this date the
1 Laverdière, OEuvres de Champlain, 2nd ed., 5, 1870, pp. 835-837.
APPEARANCE OF VARIOUS LARGE WHALES IN THE WATER, S
i i SM i l W M W i S Rudolphi’s and the