54 



COMMON WHALE. Class IV. 



rant of it, being obliged to fend to Bijkaie for men 

 Jkilful in the catching of the whale, and ordering of the 

 oil, and one cooler Jkilful to fet up the Jlaved cajk *. 

 This feems very ft range •, for by the account 

 Oclher gave of his travels to King Alfred, near 

 700 years f before that period, it is evident that 

 he made that monarch acquainted with the Nor- 

 wegians practifing the whale- fifhery ; but it feems 

 all memory of that gainful employ, as well as of 

 that able voyager Oclher, and all his important 

 difcoveries in the North were loft for near feven 

 centuries. 



It was carried on by the Bifcayeners long before 



we attempted the trade, and that for the fake not 



only of the oil, but alfo of the whalebone, which 



they feem to have long trafficked in. The 



earlieft notice we find of that article in our trade 



is by Hackluyt J, who fays it was brought from the 



Bay of St, Laurence by an Englifh (hip that went 



there for the barbes and fynnes of whales and train 



oil, A. D. 1594, and who found there feven or 



eight hundred whale fynnes, part of the cargo of 



two great Bifiaine friips, that had been wrecked 



there three years before. Previous to that, the 



ladies ftays muft have been made of fplit cane, or 



forne tough wood, as Mr. Anderfon obferves in his 



* Hackluyt* s Col. <voy. I. 414, 

 f Idem.) 1. 4. 

 X Idem, III. 194. 



Dictionary 



