136 WHALE-FISHERY. 



tions was likewise considerable *. In 1770, there 

 were imported into England from the British 

 American colonies, including Newfoundland, &c. 

 5202 tons of whale-oil, and 112,971 pounds weight 

 of whale fins ; and into Ireland from the same co- 

 lonies, 22 tons of whale-oil f . 



The act permitting the importation of whalebone, 

 &c. of American fishing into Britain, was continued 

 in 1771 until the 25th December 1786, in vessels 

 navigated according to la\/, and subject to no other 

 impost but that called the Old Subsidy :L The 

 ships of the colonists, if not more than two years 

 old, were, by the same act, entitled to bounties on 

 their tonnage similar to the British shipping, pro- 

 vided they proceeded, after due inspection, from 

 their ports in America before the 1st of May, for 

 the Greenland seas, and returned from thence to 

 some port in Britain \^ith the produce of their 

 fishery. 



The American whale-fishery, at this period, was 

 carried on by boats of about six men, and in a great 

 measure by the Esquimaux Indians, from whom 

 the colonists were in the habit of purchasing oil 

 and fins. The oil and fins of the Esquimaux fish- 

 ing, are stated to have been much inferior to those 

 brought from Greenland ; the oil being adulte- 



* Anderson's Com. a. d, 1767. t Idem, a. d. 1775 



X nth Geo. III. c. 38. 



