CHAPTER I. 



THE EARLIEST REFERENCES TO WHALEBONE WHALES IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



The fii'st reference to cetaceans in American waters is in the Saga of Thorfinn 

 Karlsefne, giving an account of his voyage to Vinland. DeCosta's translation 

 contains the folh_)\\iiiir : 



" Afterward a wliale was cast ashore in that place [Stream Bay] ; and they 

 assembled and cut it up, not knowing what kind of whale it was. They boiled it 

 with water; and ate it, and were taken sick. Tlien Thorhall said 'Now you see 

 tliat Thor is more prompt to give aid than your Christ. This was cast ashore as a 

 reward for tlie hymn w iiich I composed to my pati'on Thor, who rarely forsakes nie.' 

 When they knew this, they east all the remains of the whale into the sea and com- 

 mended their affaii's to God. From that time there was an abundance of food ; and 

 there were beasts on the land, eggs in the island, and fish in the sea." ' 



DeCosta gives this the date of 1008 a.d., and identifies Stream Bay with 

 Buzzard's Bay, Mass. Beamish ^ has a note to the effect that " this whale was 

 probabl}^ a species of the Balcena pJu/-mI/s of Linnjeus, which was not edible, and 

 being rarely seen in the Greenland and Iceland seas, was unknown to the Northmen." 

 This is hardly probaV^le as Balwna p7iy solus of Linnaeus is the common Finback of 

 European waters and is edible. It may have been abottlenosed whale of the genus 

 Hijperoddon, the fat of which is purgative. The fact that the Northmen could thi'ow 

 the remains into the sea shows that it was not one of the large whales. 



GREENLAND, DAVIS STRAIT, AND BAFFIN BAY. 



The narrative of Iver Boty (or Burt), maUre cFhotel of the Bishop of Greenland, 

 as quoted from the papers of Barents in Henry Hudson's possession, contains the 

 following notice of whales : 



" Item, from Skagen Ford east lyeth a hauen called Beare Ford : it is not 

 dwelt in. In the mouth thereof lyeth a riffe [reef], so that great ships can not 

 harbour in it. 



"Item, there is great abundance of whales; and there is a great fi.shing for the 

 killing of them theie, but not without the bishop's consent, which keepeth the same 



' DeCosta, B. F., The Pre-Columbian Discovery of .'\merica by the Northmen, 2d ed., 1890, 

 pp. 125-126. 



" Beamish, N. L., Discovery of America by the Northmen, 1841, p. 91, foot-note. 



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