9o NORTHERN WHALE FISHERY. 



father, who spent a long and honourable life in the 

 trade, secured cargoes which, though less in quan- 

 tity, yet, from the price being higher, yielded a 

 larger return. This latter gentleman, in the coui'se 

 of twenty-eight voyages, killed four hundred and 

 ninety-eight whales, whence were extracted four 

 thousand two hundred and forty-six tons of oil, the 

 value of which, ^^^Lth the bone, exceeded £.150,000 ! 

 So keenly has the fishery been prosecuted, and 

 so great has been the number of whales taken, that 

 it has been feared that, unless some restriction be 

 imposed, the race Avill be extinguished, and the ti-ade 

 destroyed. Mr. Scorseby states, that, during the four 

 years ending with the summer 1817, the number of 

 whales killed by the British Greenland ships was 

 three thousand five hundred and eight; and by those 

 of the Davis Straits fishery, one thousand five 

 hundred and twenty-two, in all five thousand and 

 thirty. Upon the whole, it seems evident, that aU 

 those localities which were once crowded ^vnth the 

 mysticetus, after the whalers have visited them for 

 some time, become nearly deserted, and thus our 

 fishers are time after time compelled to seek for 

 new grounds for their exertions. And if the trade 

 continue to be prosecuted with the same eagerness, 

 there seems reason to fear that the mighty giant of 

 the deep "vvlll finally share the fate of the most 

 gigantic species of land animals, which would ap- 

 pear to have become extinct mthin the records of 

 history, and that chiefly through the encreasing 

 slaughter and pursuit of man. 



