148 MAMMALS OF BERMUDA. 



him. This I write by relation, for I have not seen any killed my- 

 self." 



The fact of their capturing the whale in shoal water proclaims it to 

 belong to this species, for the sperm whale, which is the only other 

 cetacean known to visit the Bermudas, is never known to come near 

 shore. 



Another communication to the same society from one Richard Staf- 

 ford, dated at Bermuda, July 16, 1685, also proclaims 'the identity of 

 this species : 



"We have hereabouts very many sorts of fishes. There is amongst 

 them great store of whales, which in March, April, and May, use our 

 coast. I have myself killed many of them. Their females have abun- 

 dance of milk, which the j'oung ones suck out of the teats that grow 

 by their navel. They have no teeth, but feed on moss growing on the 

 rocks at the bottom during these three months, and at no other season 

 of the year. When it is consumed and gone, the whales go away also. 

 These we kill for their oil." 



The Right Whale fishing around the Bermudas appears to have been 

 prosecuted by the islanders with more or less success from these early 

 times until the present, when, owing probably to the more profitable 

 and pleasant i)ursuit of agriculture, which combines at the same time a 

 security of person quite foreign to that of the whale fisher, as the 

 numerous accidents on record prove, it is not followed with the same 

 ardor which characterized the elforts of the early settlers. Neverthe- 

 less we find that almost every year some of these whales are taken ; 

 and one season they were so numerous that no less than twenty were 

 taken off the east end of the islands. Cub whales are more commonly 

 taken than adults. These are of all sizes, as announcements in the 

 island papers such as the following, prove: 



"A fine whale of the hump-back species, a maiden cub of last year, 

 was captured on Friday morning last (April 22, 1866), by the boats be- 

 longing to Mr. Masters' establishment at Port Royal. It was 33 feet 

 long, exceedingly fat, and it is supposed will produce 40 barrels of oil. 

 It was first harpooned, and then shot at three several times with bomb- 

 lances, and though hit each time the third bomb only exploded and 

 caused the almost instant death of the leviathan. This is the first 

 whale that has been captured here for some years." Again: "A cub 

 whale about 22 feet long was captured by the boats of Port Royal on 

 Wednesday last (April 26, 1871). The old whale followed the young 

 one and struck the boat with its tail. It was harpooned but broke the 



