AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 191 



tured are not so largo as formerly, but the si)erin whales seem to 

 average about the same. 



The humpback whales and the finback whales of all oceans are fre- 

 quently captured by deep-sea whalemen and often by shore whalemen, 

 esi^ecially in the Finmarken fishery. Since both of these varieties 

 usually sink when killed, they are rarely hunted except "on sound- 

 ings. " The oil-j'ielding portions of the humpback are the body blubber ; 

 head skin; lips, which are small; tongue; entrail fat, the source of a 

 large percentage of the oil, and the striated folds of fat on the breast 

 and abdomen. The entrail fat resembles very closely in appearance 

 the corresponding fatty substance of the ox; its oil is of the same 

 grade as that of the blubber of this species, which is equal in grade 

 to the oil of right whales. 



Not only are the oil and whalebone yielded by finback whales much 

 less in quantity, but they are also inferior in quality to those obtained 

 from the right whales. For this reason, and also on account of their 

 great activity and the difficult}^ of capturing them bj^ harpooning, 

 they w^ere formerly neglected by whalers; but since the employment 

 of steam vessels with bomb guns and explosive lances an extensive 

 fishery for them has been established on the Norwegian and New- 

 foundland coasts and minor fisheries on the coasts of Russia and Japan. 



The California gray whale is occasionally taken in the lagoons of 

 Japan and on the west coast of the United States. The oil-bearing 

 parts of this species which are utilized are the body blubber, head 

 skin, throat, lips, flukes, and entrail fat. According to Capt. George 

 O. Baker, of New Bedford, during several years following 1866 a brig 

 from New Bedford, Mass. , made quite a business of catching California 

 gray whales for the food markets of Japan. 



The bottle-nose whale, so called from the peculiar shape of its head, 

 yields on an average about 12 barrels of oil. The jjrincipal places 

 where this species is caught are along the edges of the ice fields of 

 northern Europe, between Bear Island and Iceland, the fishery being 

 I^rosecuted principally b}' Norwegians hailing from Tonsberg and 

 Sandef jord. Like the sperm whale, the bottle-nose possesses a quan- 

 tity of oil in the cavity of the head, which yields spermaceti in the 

 process of refinement. The blubber oil of the bottle-nose comes next 

 to sperm oil in quality. It gives no residuum, and is therefore 

 employed for lubricating small machines, spindles in mills, etc. 



Besides the above, a number of minor cetaceans are occasionally 

 utilized for their oil; among them the orca or killer whale, the nar- 

 whal, the beluga or white whale, the black-fish, and the porpoise. 

 These have a coating of blubber ranging from one-half to -4 inches 

 in thickness, and, although not extensively sought after, man}' are 

 taken in various parts of the world. 



The beluga is plentiful in the Arctic seas and in the North Pacific 

 and comparatively numerous on the Labrador coast anti in. the St. 



