56 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES. 



keep their rich prizes from sinking ; but when 

 one has gone down worth $1500 or $2000, or 

 even $3000, they have taken it as the whale- 

 man's fortune, and, with but little lamentation, 

 have sought compensation by the capture of 

 others instead. In some voyages, they say, 

 more whales have been sunk than have been 

 saved. The useless devastation thus caused 

 among these huge denizens of the deep has 

 been very great. One practical whaleman cal- 

 culates the number of whales killed in one 

 season on the north-west coast of America and 

 Kamtschatka at 12,000, out of which, it may be 

 thus assumed, several thousands to have been lost. 

 Would whalemen go provided with buoys of 

 India-rubber or other light material, ready to 

 be bent on to harpoons to be darted into a 

 whale's carcass as soon as et turned up/' or when 

 he is perceived to be going into " his flurry," 

 we are persuaded that many thousands of bar- 

 rels of oil might be saved, and not a few poor 

 voyages would be made good ones. According 

 to Commander Wilkes's Narrative of the United 

 States' Exploring Squadron, the Indians of the 



