HARPOON or HARPING-IRON, a spear or javelin used to strike the whales in the Greenland fishery.
The harpoon, which is sometimes called the harping-iron, is furnished with a long staff, having at one end a broad and flat triangular head, sharpened at both edges, so as to penetrate the whale with facility: to the head of this weapon is fastened a long cord, called the whale-line, which lies carefully coiled in the boat, in such a manner as to run out without being interrupted or entangled. See WHALE-FISHERY, CETOLOGY Index.