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HARPOON GUN OF WHALERS The harpoon gun used in the whale fishery is in reality a small cannon mounted on a raised platform on the forward part of the boat. The bomb, a sharp-pointed projectile about a foot long, is screwed onto the tip of the harpoon. The stein or handle of the harpoon is sometimes one solid piece, but more often two pieces united at the end. The advantage of the latter kind is that it is light and can be sent a greater distance. The head of the harpoon consists of four flukes or barbs which are lashed together by spun yarn. The harpoon, with bomb attached, is about five feet long. When the harpoon enters the whale the spun yarn is shoved off the flukes, allowing the latter to open in the body of the whale. At the same time, ns soon as the bomb- outers the whalo it is exploded into many plecex.
