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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1889)
mi WHALING OFF CAPE FLATTERY. ON Sunday, the second of SoptrinlMT, the Xeuh bay reservation, near Ca Flattery, in Washington, (Uncovered an inimenso whale spouting in the Pacific opposite and alxmt three inileH utT shore, Following the ciiHtoui of the IiuliaiiH, a report of tlie fact was inadu to the medieinu man, or dreamer, of the tribe, who railed it hurried council and allotted a iniin her of picked men to the different available canoes. Incantations were then held, wherein a certain harpoon uat blessed by the dreamer and handed to the hoa-chin-i-ca-ha, or thrower, with a warning not to let it go from hi hands, except an ordered hy the dreamer him nelf, lent their effortrt in the chase should prove alMir tive. The harMton used on this invasion wan construct ed of two pieces of elk horn, each ahoul four inches long, a half inch in thickness one way, and three fourths of an inch the other, elaloriitely carved, lev eled at one end ami the two joined together in the nhae of a " V," with a sharp piece of steel fastened lift ween them at the ajs'X. To the angle of the har poon was woven one end of a rope about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and from sixty to eighty (M in length, made from the sinews of a whale, The liar hhiii, when hurled, is fastened into a slot cut in the end of a yew-wood shaft from an inch to an inch and a quarter in diameter and nine or ten feet in length. When the hnrooii enters the Ixxly of the whale the two outer points, which are sharpened, act as Whs and spread, securely imliedding themselves in the llesh, with the sinew ros attached, the shaft having (Implied' out from its own weight. All the hars.ns used hy the Indians are similar in coiinstruetion to the one deserilicd, hut only the enchanted ones are emU-l-lished or engraved. The incantation ceremonies over, the dreamer scat ed himself in the stern of a rains', and the hn bin I -calm, or thrower, armed with the prophetic harr,n, which must lie the first one hurled, t..k his position in the how of the same boat. They were then run through the surf hy the meinl.cn. of the triU- wh were to accompany them, closely followed by two other can.H-s fully manned, which, according to their Instr tions, kept astern of the first, but clow nt Imnd. Alsiut .r: M o'chsk in the afternoon their K'" overhauled, and his heading king carefully discerned. the approach was made directly fr I-hind It the habit of the whale when he eon.es to the surface lo blow, to Skim along the top of the wslrr, apj-'armg thm. or four til within a few -.rood- In-M apjiearanre he throws himself high in the air. ur... his tail to the clouds, dives deep and remains 'I'"" several minutes. This habit i' .li.ins,andthevcan calculate I- '"'y " " lr'1"' " how soon ami where he will again appear, and when he docs so the leading boat is generally not far away, In a short time the first Ual had approached within thirty or forty feet of the promised game, and the dreamer, who, tion such occasions, Is anything hut asleep, fixed his practiced eye umn it to discover the aiiH)icioiis moment at which to give the command, for only when the animal hum its back to make the dive is it even comparatively sufe to give him the har poon. The thrower, band to the waist, stissl statue like with shaft and harion lifted high in the air, his ear alert for the command "lalah," or throw, for well he knew if his instrument failed of its mark he would lc deposed and some other apxiiutcd to his honored position. (This is the scene chosen hy the artist for the graphic sketch on pages 1 11 and I I'l). He had killed his eighth whale, and hojied to hold his xillon for the remainder of his days. I'rcsently the word came ami the blessed harm was thrown with unerring aim, and others followed In quick succession. At the same time the oarsmen hacked water with all their strength to ecae the greal danger of being swatncd by the animal's tail. Hi haroons, with lines attached, were successfully thrown into him, ami the whale, goaded lo madness, lashed the water into foam with his huge tail, not preventing, however, tl anoctnen from binding one lloat line after another together, and won the three canoes, tied to the line at Intervals of two or three hundred yards, and drawn by the monster of the sea, were sailing through the water ircanward at fearful rale, The limit line is made of mlur bark, twisted like "factory work" into a riH' about an Inch ami a half in diameter. To this line, at spaces of twenty or thirty nit, are at tached air Ihwts, made from the stomach of the com mon hair seal, and much resembling the bladder f ! -ball of "ye olden times." All the ornlng lo I he stomach an' sewed up, with the rieeptioii of one, and at this Is Ingeniously constructed a valve, which op. n. mi (lie inside and Is kept el.svd when the tloal is "blown up" by Ihe pressure of the air Kadi Ibstl ln.lds about laetity gallons of air, so one can readily imagine the little chance a whale with a half mile of lUt line attached has to es. a-e. At sundown It commenrd to blow a regular north wester, ami the sea lvalue so heavy that ihe i an.rs wi re obliged to disconnect and have their victim to tire biniself out battling with lbs air lloats s.eund to liim That night the wind increased In aridity and Ihe sea ran mountains high, and on lh third only In, i of the ranirs Were iMi-mahl ; hut the whale ,..,M hove iii sight, returning from the tour of many ,,,. be n.u-t hare journeyed during the night. Tlie remaining ranoes gave chase ami er s.n again ,,11 ,, Ind to the lloal Ins- and enjoying the rm ilem.-nt