THE HUNTING OF WHALES in 



interemerunt, unde mortua ex illis ad litora sunt 

 projecta. De quorum piscium (numero) unus, 

 monstrosae immanitatis belua, in Tamensem veniens, 

 vix inter pilas pontis illaesus pertransierit. Ad mane- 

 rium autem regio quod Mortelac (Mortlake) dicitur, 

 insequentibus multis navigatoribus cum funibus et 

 balistis et arcubus, perveniens, ibidem jaculorum 

 ictibus vix est peremptus." 



No season passes without the record of a few 

 whales stranded upon the shores of Great Britain, 

 and it is to this fortunate circumstance that our 

 knowledge of whales is so largely due. 



The discovery of the economic value of many 

 parts of these huge monsters led naturally to their 

 pursuit, either from the shore or in the open sea. 

 As to the actual date of the first active hunting of 

 whales there is dispute, the real date of the origin 

 of this pursuit being difficult to ascertain. Some say 

 that the Basques were the earliest race to engage 

 in the pursuit of whales as a commercial enterprise ; 

 others hold that the Norwegians were the pioneers 

 in this branch of industry. Probably whales were 

 first of all hunted from the shore, as, indeed, they 

 are now in the case of the Californian grey whale 

 off the Pacific shores of North America. As to the 

 Norwegians, the following passage may be quoted 

 from J. Ross Browne : 



" 'As early as 887,' according to Anderson (in his 

 Historical and Chronological Deduction of the Origin 



* Quoted by SCAMMON (Marine Rlammals, p. 186). 



