^ WHALE-FISHERY. 



was in his own country ; wliereof some be 48 ells of 

 length, and some 50, of which sort, he affirmed, that 

 he himself was one of the six who in the space of 

 three (hvoj days, killed threescore *. From this it 

 would appear, that tlie whale-fishery was not only 

 prosecuted by the Norwegians so early as the ninth 

 century, but that Ohthere himself had personal 

 knowledge of it. But when he affirms, that him- 

 self, with five men, captured 60 of these whales in 

 two days, when it is well known that fifty men, un- 

 der the most favourable circumstances, and in the 

 present improved state of the fishery, could not have 

 taken one-half, or even one-third of that number in 

 the same space of time, of any of the larger species 

 of whales, — we are naturally led to question the 

 authenticity of the account, as far as relates to this 

 transaction ; and in questioning one part, throw a 

 shade of doubt over the whole narrative. As, how- 

 ever, the voyage of Ohthere is a document of much 

 value in history, both in respect to the matter of it, 

 and the high character of the author by whom it 

 has been preserved, it were well to examine care- 

 fully tliis circumstance, before we decide on a point 

 so important, rlitherto I have followed Hackluyt ; 

 but if we refer to the o iginal, we shall find, that 

 Hackluyt himself, is probably, in this instance, the 



* Hackluyt's Voyagesj vol. i. p. 4^ 



