THE ANIMAL LIFE OF THE GROT^P. 303 



The Wiialixc Indcstrv. 



In the old whaling' days vessels engaged in the trade ranged up to foni- 

 hundred tons burden, and were often outfitted for a two or three years' 

 voyage. Their usual destination being the "south seas." they frequently 

 utilized Hawaii as a depot station. A whaling vessel usually carried six 

 whaleboats. These wei-e about twenty-seven feet in length, with four-foot 

 beam, and were pointed at both ends. 



When a whale was sighted, four boats put off at once, each being provided 

 with a pair of two-hundred-fathom harpoon lines and carrying a crew of six 

 men. "It was the business of the boat-steerer to harpoon the whale when it 

 came to the surface to spout. When this was done he changed places with a 

 member of the crew, whose duty was to kill the animal with a lance. When a 

 whale was harpooned, immediately after the first struggle and when it was 

 l.ving exhausted from its endeavors to escape, the boat was pulled close along- 

 side, and the headsman began the work of destruction by thrusting his lance into 

 the vital parts behind the flipper. As soon as the whale was lanced the boats 

 were backed with all possible speed. When first struck the whale frequently 

 'sounded' or descended to immense depths, sometimes taking out nearly all 

 of the eight himdred fathoms of line carried by the four boats. Subsequently, 

 however, when weakened by the loss of blood, it kept on or near the surface, 

 towing after it one or more of the boats. By hauling in the line the boat or 

 boats were pulled up alongside aiul the monster finally destroyed, either by 

 darting or thrusting with the lance."" 



Whaling as thus carried on was full of dangei's, and an occupation calcu- 

 lated to be followed only by the most hardy and venturesome ; hundreds of 

 accounts of hairbreadth escapes from death have been chronicled in the 

 pursuit of this business in which, at its height in 1852, no fewer than two 

 hundred and seventy-five American vessel were engaged, in the north Pacific 

 alone. The amount of oil taken that year by the fleet exceeded 337,000 bar- 

 rels, and more than o.OOO.OOO pounds of whalebone was secured. 



The Hawaiian Islands were in the center of this trade, and thousands of 

 the native Hawaiians were employed as whalers. The business developed in 

 the ports of the islands furnished the impetus and the foundation for nnn-e 

 substantial and diversified trade that has rapidly increased in volume to the 

 present, though whaling, on anything like an extensive scale, was practically 

 at an end by 1875. 



As long ago as 1824 the brig Ainoa set out from the islands for a sealing 

 voyage. At different times, but particularly in 1859, sealing expeditions have 

 been made among the islands to the west of Kauai. In that year the Gambia 

 returned to Honloulu with fifteen hundred skins and two hundred and forty 

 barrels of seal oil. This furnishes us with a record of the former abundance of 

 the seal*" in the Hawaiian group. Of recent years they have been far from 



