THE ORDER CETACEA. 65 



mass of bones, covered with a quantity of black mus- 

 cular substance ; which is abandoned, either to sink or 

 to be devoured by the flocks of ravenous birds and 

 sharks which duly attend on this occasion. 



However, when the fishery was transferred to the icy 

 banks in the open sea, this operation was necessarily 

 deferred till the cargoes were deposited in the Dutch or 

 British ports. 



In the early days of the whale-fishery, when the whales 

 were found in great numbers immediately around the 

 shores of Spitzbergen, the Dutch formed a settlement on 

 that island, and performed there all the operations of 

 preparing the bone and extracting the oil from the 

 blubber. To so flourishing an extent was the fishery at 

 this time (the latter part of the seventeenth century) 

 as carried on by that nation, that they actually erected a 

 village on this desolate coast, all the houses of which 

 were brought, ready prepared, from Holland. They gave 

 it the name of Smeerenherg (from smeeren, to melt). 

 " This," says Mr. Macculloch, " was the grand rendez- 

 vous of the Dutch whale-ships, and was amply provided 

 with boilers, tanks, and every sort of apparatus required 

 for preparing the oil and the bone. But this was not all: 

 the whale fleets were attended by a number of provision- 

 ships, the cargoes of which were landed at Smeerenberg, 

 which abounded during the busy season with well- 

 furnished ships, good inns, &c, so that many of the 

 conveniences and enjoyments of Amsterdam were found 

 within eleven degrees of the pole ! It is particularly 

 mentioned, that the sailors and others were every 

 morning supplied with what a Dutchman regards as 

 a very great luxury — hot rolls for breakfast. Bata- 

 via and Smeerenberg were founded nearly at the 

 same period, and it was for a considerable time doubted 



F 



