COMPARATIVE VIEW. — SWEDEN. 171 



The account of the early whale-fishery of the 

 Norwegians, as presented to us in Alfred's Oro- 

 sius, has been already sufficiently considered. Their 

 fishery at Spitzhergen seems never to have employ- 

 ed many vessels, and their enterprises thither to 

 have been only occasional. A company established 

 at Bergen for trading with the Greeulanders, made 

 a feeble eflPort in 1721 to commence a whale-fishery 

 at Davis' Straits ; but after continuing it occasion- 

 ally for a few years with constant bad success, they 

 abandoned the business ; but in the year 1733, 

 they took the resolution of attempting it again *. 



In addition to those nations which have specu- 

 lated in the whale-fishery already enumerated, I 

 may mention, that the King of Prussia ordered 

 the equipment of some ships in 1768 ; and that the 

 Government of Sw'eben in 1774", granted to a com- 

 pany established at Stockholm, the exclusive pri- 

 vilege of the Greenland and Davis' Straits fishery 

 for twenty years, and with a view of promoting an 

 undertaking so useful to the State, assisted the ad- 

 venturers with the loan of 500,000 dollars, at an in- 

 terest of 3 per cent f . 



* Hist, des Peches, vol. iii. p. 20. 

 f Macphersoiij voL iii. p. .5.'57. 



