THE CALIFORNIA GRAY WHALE. 33 
and the skins form an indispensable article of clothing. The North-west Indians 
realize the same comparative benefit from the captured animals as do the Esqui- 
maux, and look forward to its periodical passage through their circumscribed fishing- 
grounds as a season of exploits and profit. 
The civilized whaler seeks the hunted animal farther seaward, as from year to 
year it learns to shun the fatal shore. None of the species are so constantly and 
variously pursued as the one we have endeavored to describe ; and the large bays 
and lagoons, where these animals once congregated, brought forth and nurtured 
their young, are already nearly deserted. The mammoth bones of the California 
Gray lie bleaching on the shores of those silvery waters, and are scattered along 
the broken coasts, from Siberia to the Gulf of California ; and ere long it may be 
questioned whether this mammal will not be numbered among the extinct species 
of the Pacific. 
Marine Mammals.— 5. 
