122 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



The Spout of the sei is cone-shaped and vertical, and is accompa- 

 nied by a very distinct loud whistle as it is ejected. The sei is a great 

 wanderer, and marked individuals have turned up in different oceans. 

 It migrates annually, appearing off the coast of Norway in June and 

 disappearing again in August, and off Japan in June and July. The 

 young appear to be born at all times of the year in different areas, 

 and mating is random. Seis are found all over the world from the 

 Arctic to the Antarctic, and off almost all coasts, though their pres- 

 ence was not noticed, except in Japan, until modern whaling began. 



Thus, we find that whaling was proceeding at both sides of the 

 earth from the earUest times, that some people were matching the 

 efforts of the Norse in this respect in far northeastern Asia, and 

 that by the end of the first millennium of our era the Japanese had 

 developed methods that were in advance of any to be found in Eu- 

 rope. However, it is to the whaling conducted in the latter conti- 

 nent that we must now return. 



