THE AMERICAN WHALE-FISHERY. 215 
tary ; through Bchring Sea into the Arctic Ocean, and as far north as the icy bar- 
rier, which, in some seasons, was found beyond Point Barrow : in Hudson's Bay ; 
in Baffin's Bay ; in Davis Straits ; on the Coast of Greenland ; about Spitzbergen. 
Southern Right Whale Grounds. — On the Brazil Banks; on the coast of 
Africa ; on the coast of Patagonia ; around the Falkland Islands ; the Tristan 
Ground, which was around the island of Tristan d'Acunha in the South Atlantic ; 
around Gough's Island ; around St. Paul's, the Crozet and Kerguelen islands ; coast 
of New Holland ; south coast of Chile ; coast of New Zealand ; off the Cape of 
Good Hope. Many of the whaling -grounds mentioned have long since been aban- 
doned, as the animals pursued have been literally exterminated by the harpoon and 
lance ; and many of the names to the grounds are only given in the familiar appel- 
lations of whalers, which embrace large tracts of ocean, sea, or gulf, within the 
limits of which, in many cases, are found choice feeding -grounds where the animals 
congregate. This is well-known to all careful observers, and is a fact that proves 
the theories establishing the legitimate resorts of whales on purely scientific princi- 
ples, in connection with the ocean currents, to be erroneous. These places can only 
be known, or have been discovered, by practical observation ; and many a ship has 
been filled with oil by cruising on a favorite spot, while others but a few leagues 
distant, on the same general ground, may have met 'with indifferent success. Besides 
the Cachalots and the Bight Whales, two species of the rorquals were occasionally 
pursued, which are known as the Humpback, and the California Gray or Devilfish ; 
the former are found broadcast over the waters of the globe, but many have been 
taken in some of the bays on the coasts of Africa, Chile and Peru, Central America 
and California, about the Rosemary Islands, and at Tongataboo (one of the Friendly 
group) ; and the latter were, and still are, taken on the coast of California, in the 
Arctic Ocean, and Okhotsk Sea. With the Humpbacks and California Grays, may 
be mentioned the Blackfish, which were sometimes taken on Sperm Whale grounds ; 
these, included with the Right Whales and Cachalots, were all the different species 
of Cetaceans sought after by the whalers.* 
* The great rorqual, commonly called the greatest of great whales, has been devised. The 
Sulphurbottom, has been occasionally taken on manner of capturing those obtained on the coast, 
the coast of California of late years, but as yet is given with the description of the animal in 
no really successful mode of capturing this, the this work. 
