36 THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 



SovMevr'''' ; .and (3) "white porpoises," among the fishes of the St. Lawrence River. 

 His descriptions of these, which ai-e exti'emely unsatisfactory, ai-e as folhjws: 



" The BaJenot is a sort of a whale, only 't is less and more fleshy, and does not 

 yield Oil in proportion to the Noi'tbern Whales. This Fish goes fifty or sixty 

 Leagues up the River. 



" The Sonffieurs are much of the same size, only they are shorter and blacker, 

 When they mean to take breath after diving, they squirt out the water through 

 a hole behind their Head, after the same manner with the Whales. Commonly, 

 they dog the Ships in the River of St. Laurence. 



"The White Porpoises are as big as Oxen. They always go along with the 

 Current; and go up with the tide till they come at fi'esh water, upon which they 

 retire with the ebb water. They are a ghastly sort of Animals, and are frequently 

 taken befoi-e Quelfec." ' 



The "white porpoise" is, of course, the Beluga, or White whale, Delpkinap- 

 terus, but the others are not cei'tainly recognizable. 



Charlevoix published a few notes on the wdiales found in the St. Lawrence in 

 his History and General Descri[)tion of New France, the most important of which 

 is the following: " I have I'emai'ked in my Journal that having been at anchor in 1705 

 at the end of the month of August near Tadoussac, about 15 leagues above Matave, 

 I have seen 4 of them [/. e., whales] at the same time })laying around our vessel, and 

 approaching in such manner that one might have touched them with the oars; 

 but it is principally on the coasts of Acadie that the fishing offers an inexhaustible 

 fund foi' commerce." ~ 



Li 1709 Lawson, in his natural history of the Carolinas, makes mention for 

 the first time of whales in those waters, but his account is vague and far from satis- 

 factory. His list includes " whales, several sorts " ; " crampois [grampus] " ; " bottle- 

 noses," and porpoises. He remai'ks : " Whales are very numerous on the coast of North 

 Carolina, from which they make Oil, Bone, etc. to the great Advantage of those 

 inhabiting the Sand Banks, along the Ocean, where these whales come ashoi-e, 

 none being sti-uck or kill'd with a Harpoon in this Place, as they are to the North- 

 ward, or elsewhere." ^ 



Lawson's descriptions of the various kinds of whales are uncritical and con- 

 fused. He says : 



" Of these Monsters, there are four sorts ; the first, which is most choice and 

 rich, is the SjJervia Cceti whale* from which the Sperma Cteti is taken. These are rich 

 Prizes ; but I never heard but of one found on this Coast, which was neai- Currituch- 

 Inlet [Noi'th Carolina]. 



"The other sorts are of a prodigious Bigness. Of these the Bone and Oil is 

 made; the Oil being the Blubber, or oily Flesh, or Fat of that Fish boil'd. 

 These diffei- not only in Colour, some being pied, others not, but very much in 



' La Hontan, New Voyages to North America, London, 1703, p. 244. 



"Charlevoix, P. F. X. de, Histoire et Description generale de la Nouvelle France, 2, 1744 

 P- 389- 



^ Lawson, John, The History of Carolina, London, 1714, p. 153. This is the 2d ed. The 

 first published in 1709, I have not seen. Allen states that the two editions are textuallv idenlical. 



