PORPOISE-HUNTING. 



681 



session of the ball the moment it passes the en- 

 trance to the cage. By this means all dispute 

 in regard to the passage of the ball between 

 goal-posts is removed. The ball used in the 

 game is made of cork and yarn, and is covered 

 with a coating of rubber. It weighs from four 

 to five ounces, and is from eight to nine inches 

 in circumference. The polo-stick weighs from 

 ten to twelve ounces, and measures from three 

 to four feet in length. It is " foul " play when- 

 ever a player strikes or stops the ball while 

 any part of his person touches the floor of the 

 rink ; or if he touches the ball with his hands 

 or arms, or kick the ball with his foot or skate, 

 or if he strike down the stick of an opposing 

 player, or if he trips or strikes an opponent, 

 or if he runs into his opponent's goal. The 

 goal-keeper, however, may defend his goal by 

 kicking the ball away with his skate. Three 

 fouls give a goal to the opposite side. 



PORPOISE-HINTING. The abundance of the 

 common porpoise, variously known as " puffer," 

 "herring hog," "snuffer," and "snuffing pig," 

 has from the earliest times tempted fishermen 

 to pursue and capture him for profit; but his 

 habits are so uncertain, his strength, speed, 

 and intelligence so great, that until recently 

 attempts to establish a successful business have 

 failed. The porpoise is hunted for his hide, 

 which, when properly cured, makes perhaps 

 the most durable of leathers 

 for shoe-uppers, and lacings, 

 and for harness. Like his 

 larger cousins of the whale 

 tribe, he is covered with " blub- 

 ber " or fat, which yields three 

 to eight gallons of excellent 

 oil for each porpoise. This 

 quantity of oil is greatly ex- 

 ceeded in the larger species of 

 the family. The common por- 

 poise rarely grows larger than 

 seven feet long, while the white 

 whale of the St. Lawrence 

 attains fourteen to sixteen feet 

 in length, and often weighs 

 from 700 to 1,000 pounds. The 

 Indians of the North Atlantic 

 coast were the first to hunt 

 porpoises, and to this day the 

 survivors of the Passamaquoddy tribes along 

 the coasts of Maine and Nova Scotia keep up 

 the practice, fire-arms having for the most part 

 taken the place of the aboriginal bow and spear. 

 Two Indians put out to sea in a birch canoe, 

 and on reaching the feeding-grounds one of 

 them stands up in the bow and fires at or 

 spears the game as it rises to "blow." To be 

 a successful hunter, especially in the winter 

 season along that tempestuoiis coast, calls for a 

 high degree of daring and coolness. Yet these 

 Indians venture out in their bark canoes in 

 almost any weather, and handle them with won- 

 derful dexterity. A good hunter counts 200 

 porpoises a fair season's work, as this may 

 represent to him several hundred dollars. 



After being shot or harpooned, the porpoise 

 is taken on board the canoe, and when a full 

 cargo is obtained they are taken ashore, and 

 stripped of their fat. At intervals along the 

 beaches frequented by the hunters there are 

 gallows-like structures from which the try-pots 

 are suspended over fires built within circles of 

 stones. The stones become hot, and so econo- 

 mize fuel in the later stages of the process. 

 Pure porpoise-oil is worth from 90 cents to $1 

 a gallon ; but the arts of civilization are not 

 wholly unknown to the coast Indians, and the 

 product is sometimes adulterated with seal-oil. 

 Until recently the oil was largely used by the 

 light-houses, being without offensive smell and 

 retaining its fluidity even in cold weather. 

 From the head is obtained a small quantity of 

 very superior lubricant, known to commerce as 

 " porpoise-jaw oil," which is much sought for 

 by watch-makers and others requiring a perfect 

 lubricant. The aboriginal method of trying out 

 this precious head-oil is to- hang up the jaws in 

 the sun, with a receptacle underneath, into 

 which the oil slowly drips. Porpoise-meat is 

 used for food by the Indians, and fishermen are 

 often ready to secure a change of diet by trad- 

 ing fresh fish for it. 



These slow aboriginal methods do not suit 

 the more grasping Anglo-Saxon, and from the 

 earliest settlement of the country attempts have 



A PORPOISE. 



been made to secure the porpoises in large 

 numbers. The first Swedish settlers along 

 Delaware Bay engaged to some extent in por- 

 poise-hunting. Certain portions of the coast 

 seem to offer especial attractions to porpoises. 

 This is true of the eastern coast of Long Island, 

 of Cape May, and of the coast of North Caro- 

 lina. Seines of great length and about twenty- 

 five feet deep are made of twine or small rope 

 about one fourth of an inch in diameter, and 

 with meshes about one foot square. The in- 

 telligence and wariness of the porpoise are 

 such that the greatest caution has to be exer- 

 cised in surrounding a "school" on thefeedir.g- 

 grounds. The seine is sometimes cast from a 

 silently-running steam-launch, or from a seino- 



