214 



KEPUirr OF COMMISSIONER OF FISU AND FISHERIES. 



iiielusiv<% amouiiled to upward of 242,000 ban-els, or 7,(J4:o,000 

 gallons, worth So, 420, 000, apportioned as follows: 



I'lus oil is classed as whale oil and has been included in theproduet 

 of that article, as shown on page 204, although it is usuallj^ sold for 

 o or 4 cents per gallon more than the latter. The process of refine- 

 ment is precisely the same as in case of whale oil, the foots yielded 

 amounting to 5 or 6 per cent of the original bulk. Its principal use 

 has been in the dressing of morocco leather. 



WALRUS OIL. 



When the whalers entered the North Pacific, walrus were found in 

 great numbers, but were not disturbed, owing to the abundance of 

 cetaceans. At times when whales were not to be found and many 

 walrus were met with, a number of these were killed aud the blubber 

 tried-out, and this practice extended with the increasing scarcity of 

 whales. About 1863 the northern whalers began to make a business of 

 taking walrus during the first part of each season, some vessels securing 

 upward of 500 barrels. Mr. A. Howard Clarke estimated that, during 

 the eleven years ending in 1880, 1,900,000 gallons of walrus oil were 

 secured by the whaling fleet in the North Pacific, the value of which 

 was about $1,000,000." The hunt was carried on Avith much waste. 

 It is stated that on one occasion 1,600 walrus were killed on a sand 

 bar in one day, aud the whole number were washed into the sea by an 

 unusually high tide and thus lost. Since 1880 the quantity secured 

 has decreased, and at the present time not more than 100 walrus are 

 obtained annually by the entire North Pacific fleet, representing an 

 oil product of less than 2,000 gallons. 



The blubber of walrus averages • 2 or 3 inches in thickness, and 

 usually it is is not detached from the skin until after the removal of 

 the latter from the carcass. In case the hide is to be saved for tanning, 

 the pelt is placed on a flensing board or platform, skin-side down, and 

 the blubber is cut off in irregularly shaped horse-pieces of 10 or 15 

 pounds' weight each. During the height of the Pacific walrus fisluM-y 

 the hides were not used, and then the skin and blubber were removed 

 from the animal in horse-pieces of convenient size, say about 10 by 

 14 inches, and these were separated aboard the vessel. 



The horse-pieces are next prepared for the try-pots. They are placed 

 on the mincing-horse and scored or minced precisely in tlie manner 

 described in the treatment of whale blubber. The cooking must be 



a The Fishery Industries of the United States, Sec. V, Vol 11, p. 318. 



