18G ZOOLOGY. 



explored tract of ocean, in the western parts of the North 

 Pacific, and since so familiarly known to whalers as 

 the u coast of Japan f and which, for a long series of 

 years, has proved so prolific a resort of the Sperm 

 Whale, that, at a comparatively recent period, when its 

 value was diminished by the frequent visits of ships, 

 40,000 barrels of oil are recorded to have been taken 

 from thence in one season, by the fleets which annually 

 frequent its waters. The Indian Ocean, coast of New 

 Holland, and Indian Archipelago, were subsequently 

 occupied as cruising grounds ; and now but few seas are 

 entirely free from the visits of ships occupied in this 

 venturous service, under the flag of Great Britain, or of 

 the United States other nations having made but 

 feeble and transient efforts to partake in the fishery. 



Of late years, the number of British ships engaged in 

 this trade has materially decreased, and at the present 

 time, cannot be estimated at more than between thirty 

 and forty sail. The cause of this recent diminution in 

 the number of British South-Seamen is to be found in 

 the slow and precarious return the fishery affords to 

 the heavy investment of capital required for its prose- 

 cution, and in the abundant importation of sperm-oil 

 from our colony of New South Wales, (where the 

 fishery is conducted with much less expenditure of time 

 and capital,) which does not permit the British owner 

 to receive an adequate remuneration. 



The amount of capital, involved in the outfit of a 

 South-Seaman, from the port of London, is from 

 8,000 to 12,000. The time occupied by the voyage 

 is now seldom less than two-and-a-half or three years, 

 and the latter period is occasionally exceeded, with an 

 unsuccessful result. The value of a South-Seaman, on 

 her return to the port of London, with a full cargo, may 



