Introductory Chapter. 3 
fishery. Nowhere else in the literature is there a more 
vivid account of the way in which a people’s environ- 
ment literally forced them to a particular industry, and 
how that industry shaped and modified social and 
economic conditions. As a real interpretation of the 
whale fishery, Macy’s book stands practically alone. 
The ‘‘History of New Bedford,” by Daniel Ricketson, 
is unfortunately not so valuable as Macy’s history, in 
its discussion of the whale fishery. New Bedford was 
a greater whaling port than Nantucket ever was, but 
Ricketson seems to have given the industry relatively less 
attention. This fact is particularly to be regretted, 
because, as in the case of Nantucket, many of the New 
Bedford records were destroyed by fire. Ricketson 
gives many interesting and valuable facts concerning 
the local industry, but there is little beyond that—prac- 
tically nothing, in fact, to give much suggestion about 
the industry as a whole. 
In the decade between 1870 and 1880 there were 
printed the only histories of whaling which have appeared 
in this country. They were: the ‘Report on the Prin- 
cipal Fisheries of the American Seas,”’ by Lorenzo Sabine; 
the ‘‘Marine Mammals of the Northwestern Coast of 
North America, with an Account of the American Whale 
Fishery,” by Scammon; and, finally, Alexander Star- 
buck’s ‘‘History of the American Whale Fishery from 
its Earliest Inception to the year 1876.” 
Sabine’s work needs little mention since it is neither 
as complete nor as thorough as the other two. Scammon, 
on the other hand, gives a fairly good portrayal of cer- 
tain phases of the subject. In the first part of his book 
Scammon devotes himself almost entirely to the natural 
history of the whales, the different species, their char- 
acteristics, distribution and relative values. The more 
valuable part of the discussion is that part dealing with 
the Pacific whale fishery, to which branch of the industry 
Scammon gives most of his attention. Nowhere else is 
