eOMrAEATlVE VIEW. — HOLLAND. 139 



Hence, the whale-fishery of the Dutch is divisi- 

 ble into several eras, distinguished by some change 

 of national character, or by their economy or lavish- 

 ness in the equipment of their vessels ; to which 

 circumstances, the difference in the degree of suc- 

 cess that resulted from their labours in the different 

 eras, is to be attributed. 



They first entered the fishing stations on the 

 coast of Spitzbergen with one ship, fitted for taking 

 whales, and another for hunting sea-horses, in the 

 year 1612. But on this, as well as on future occa- 

 sions, they were prevented by the English Russia 

 Company's ships from enjoying to the full, the 

 several advantages which the fishery was capable of 

 affording. 



As the Dutch, as well as the English, afterwards 

 sent armed fleets to the fishery, the quarrels became, 

 occasionally, of a serious nature ; but after a few 

 years of hostility, the folly of conflicts, productive 

 only of mutual injury, became glaring. A plan 

 was therefore arranged, for preventing their in- 

 terference with one another in the fishery, by 

 making a division among the dilTerent nations, of 

 the bays and harbours, suitable for fishing stations, 

 in Spitzbergen. When this measure had, in a con- 

 siderable degree, adjusted the existing differences, 

 the Dutch took possession of their portion of bays 

 and harbours, and built boiling-houses, warehouses, 

 cooperages, and other erections convenient for tlic 



