land whale is supplied with a curious and complicated apparatus composed of numerous strips of what we call whalebone, which operates as a kind of sieve or screen, by means of which, it separates its food of medusæ and other small sea animals, from the water; the cachelot, on the contrary, has sharp teeth, designed for seizing its prey, which seems to consist chiefly of the squid or sepia. It has also an external orifice for hearing, which is wanting in the Greenland whale. It does not supply whalebone, but yields spermaceti, with a peculiarly fine kind of oil, both of which are found in the head of the animal, in a thin membraneous case. The head is enormously large, and the quantity of these valuable materials which it contains, renders it a special object of desire to the whalers. It is gregarious, the herds being divided into two kinds, one consisting of females, the other of young whales, not fully grown.

These herds are called by whalers "schools," and one of these sometimes contains as much as five or six hundred. With each herd or school of females, are always from one to three large bulls, the lords of the herd, or as they are called, the "school-masters." The full grown whales, or "large whales," almost always go separately, in search of food; when they are seen in company, they are supposed to be migrating from one feeding ground to another.

The British whale-ships seldom attempt to penetrate the northern seas before the month of April, when the sun having entered the northern tropic, begins to enlighten the polar regions throughout the twenty-four hours. Storms and foggy weather usually prevail in

the spring, and these combined with the darkness of night and crowded ice, produce as gloomy a combination of circumstances, as can well be imagined. Usually, the fish are most plentiful in June. The fishery usually terminates in July.

The northern whale-ships are built expressly for the purpose, in a most substantial manner, to resist exposure to the ice; they are sometimes treble planked; the stern and bows are fortified in the strongest manner by timber and iron plates. The crew of a ship consists of forty or fifty men, all of whom go on shares in the adventure. On reaching the fishing station, the whale boats are prepared for service, and slung over the ship's sides on davits or cranes; they are furnished with stores, harpoons, lances, &c., and everything is kept in such readiness that they can be manned and lowered into the water at a minute's notice. Whenever there is a probability of seeing whales, the master or some one of the officers takes his station in the crow's nest. This is a sort of watch-tower placed on the maintop-mast or topgallantmast head, to shelter the observer from the keen piercing wind of the north. Commanding from this elevated point an extensive prospect of all the surrounding sea, he keeps an anxious watch for the appearance of a whale. The moment one is seen, he gives notice to the watch on deck, part of whom leap into a boat, are lowered down and push off in pursuit. If the whale be large, a second boat is immediately despatched to the assistance of the first. The harpooner and boatsteerer keep a careful watch on all sides, while each of the rowers looks out in the direction of his oar.

Many precautions must be observed in approaching a whale to prevent him from taking the alarm. As he is dull of hearing, but quick of sight, the boat-steerer always endeavors to get behind him.

A whale seldom abides longer on the top of the water than two minutes, and generally remains from five to ten minutes below. In this interval, he sometimes swims half a mile or more; and as the fisher has very rarely any certain intimation of the place in which he will re-appear, the difficulty of approaching him sufficiently near during his short stay on the surface, to reach him with the harpoon, may be readily apprehended. It is, therefore, a primary consideration with the harpooner always to place his boat as near as possible to the spot in which he expects the fish to rise, and he thinks himself successful in the attempt when the fish comes up " within a start," that is, within the distance of about 200 yards. Whenever a whale lies on the surface of the water, unconscious of the approach of his enemies, the hardy fisher rows directly upon him, and the instant before the boat touches, buries the harpoon in his back. But if, while the boat is yet at a little distance, the whale should indicate his intention of diving by lifting his head and then plunging it under water, and raising his body until it appears like the large segment of a sphere, the harpoon is thrown from the hand, or fired from a gun. The wounded whale, in the surprise and agony of the moment, makes a convulsive effort to escape. This is the moment of danger. The boat is exposed to the most violent blows from his head or fins, but particularly from his ponderous tail,

THE WHALE FISHERY.

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which sometimes sweeps the air with such tremendous fury that boat and men are exposed to one common destruction. The first effort of a "fast fish," or whale that has been struck, is to escape from the boat by sinking under water. After this he pursues his course directly downward, or re-appears at a little distance, and swims with great celerity near the surface of the water towards any neighboring ice, among which he imagines he may obtain shelter, or he returns instantly to the surface, and gives evidence of his agony by the most convulsive throes, in which his fins and tail are alternately displayed in the air and dashed into the water with tremendous violence.

To the harpoon is attached the end of a very long line, which is nicely coiled up in the bottom of the boat, so that it may run out freely as the whale makes off. But to retard as much as possible his flight, it is usual for the harpooner to cast one, two, or more turns of the line round a kind of post called a bollard. Such is the friction of the line when running round the bollard, that it frequently envelops the harpooner in smoke, and if the wood were not frequently moistened, it would take fire. During the capture of one whale, a groove is sometimes cut in the bollard nearly an inch in depth. When the line happens to become entangled, it sometimes draws the boat under water, and if no boat or piece of ice be at hand, the crew are in danger of drowning. When the line is nearly run out, and more is wanted, a signal is made for help by elevating an oar, and sometimes two, three, or four, according to the nature of the exigence. It is usual