536 



KEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



XII.— WHALEBONE. 



General trade. — The foreign trade ill whalebone is almost entirely of 

 an export nature, only a small quantity being imported into this coun- 

 try. During recent years the quantity exported has averaged about 

 150,000 pounds annually, with a valuation of about $4 per pound. 

 During the twenty-six years ending June 30, 1894, the exports aggre- 

 gated 5,807,203 pounds, valued at $10,295,706. The largest quantity 

 exported in any one of those years was 405,396 pounds in 1869, but the 

 greatest value was $799,042 in 1888. From 1821 to 1894, inclusive, 

 55,215,494 pouuds of whalebone, valued at $31,803,573, have been 

 exported, as shown in Table 20, on page 464-465. The exports were 

 most extensive from 1844 to 1860, the quantity exceeding 1,000,000 

 pounds annually. The exports in 1853 were 2,825,069 pounds, valued 

 at $1,063,705, and in 1857, 2,042,390 pounds, worth $1,307,322. The 

 exports from 1791 to 1820, inclusive, as compiled from Pitkin's Statistics, 

 and shown in Table 19, on page 462, amounted to 2,942,848 pounds, with 

 an estimated value, at 20 cents per pound, of $588,570. This gives a 

 total of 58,158,342 pounds, worth $32,392,143 of domestic wholebone 

 exported from 1791 to 1894, inclusive. 



Table 74 shows in detail the extent of the whalebone trade during 

 the twenty-six years ending in 1894. 



74. Statement of the foreign trade in whalebone during each year from 1869 to 1894, 



inclusive. 



