BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 347 



Monterey. — The Monterey statiou is the oklest of these; and the charter 

 of the Monterey Whaling Company, which I saw framed in the ancient 

 stone building used as headquarters at that place, bore tbe date 1854. 

 Gray whales then resorted to the shoal water along the north beach of 

 Monterey Bay to roll in the sand as a relief from the barnacles and other 

 parasites which infested them, and were easily secured, especially when 

 half stranded at low tide ; but the persistent i)ersecution to which they 

 were subjected drove them away, so that at the present time they must 

 be sought far outside the bay. The seasons of 1885 and 1886 were es- 

 pecially dull at this station, owing in part to rough weather which pre- 

 vented the boats from going out regularly, but chiefly to the wilduess 

 of the whales which were learning to shun the locality. 



The " up season" at Monterey is now unj)roductive, as the whales keep 

 well off shore when returning with their young. I was told at several 

 stations that shore whaling began its decline with the general use of the 

 bomb-gun and lance by inexperienced persons, so many animals having 

 been wounded as to make them wary and in general more quiet in their 

 movements, leading some of the whalers to a suspicion even of their 

 " blowing " more cautiously. 



The greater part of the oil yield at Monterey is derived from the 

 humpback whales taken in summer, and it is probable that whaling 

 would be abandoned at that station if the business depended upon the 

 supply of gray whales. Monterey is in fact the only coast statiou where 

 summer whaling can be carried on to any advantage. During the year 

 1802 the two companies then located there secured nearly 2,500 barrels 

 of oil, the bulk of which was derived from the humpbacks, taken during 

 the summer season, which lasts from September until December, the mi- 

 gration of the gray whales lasting from the latter date until February 15. 

 So far as I observed, all the whalers there are Portuguese, whose man- 

 ner of life is simple, and who appeared to make but little more than a 

 plain living out of the business. There were eleven gray whales taken 

 at Monterey in 1883, and twelve in 1884. Occasional finback and sul- 

 phur-bottom whales are secured there, so that with all the species obtain- 

 able there is still a fair yield of oil at that station. 



San Simeon. — Tlie San Simeon station was founded in 18G4 by Joseph 

 Clark, a Portuguese native of the Azores Islands, and has been kept in 

 operation under his management ever since. Unlike Monterey, this sta- 

 tion depends almost entirely for its business upon the gray whales, 

 which pass southward with great regularity from December until Feb- 

 ruary. The " up season," lasting until April, is also i)rofitable at San 

 Simeon, but the catch there consists chiefly of males, the females keep- 

 ing farther ofl" shore when passing northward with their young. Dur- 

 ing the last ten years Captain Clark has seen but one female accompa- 

 nied by young in the vicinity of his statiou. At San Simeon, and all 

 the whaling establishments situated south of it, females exceed the other 

 sex in numbers during the "down run," and most of th*^m contain well- 



