Driving Whales 101 



that the wrecking trade has been ruined by civilisa- 

 tion, the most exciting event in island life the 

 slaughter of a shoal of whales. It is a form of sport 

 which, unfortunately, can only be enjoyed by accident. 

 Were it otherwise, the whale would be driven as 

 systematically as the deer is driven, and we should 

 soon have the great mammal on the game list. But 

 local superstition ascribes his coming to a special 

 intervention of Providence. ' When the whales come, 

 O Lord, dinna forget Eday ! ' used to be one of the 

 weekly petitions of an old-world minister. And it 

 may as well be stated, for the benefit of those who do 

 not know, that the event referred to must not be con- 

 founded with the stranding of a huge Greenlander 

 a type which, unfortunately for the Dundee whaler, 

 does not roam about in large herds, though a single 

 estray may occasionally be seen from the boat between 

 Aberdeen and Kirkwall. It is the smaller variety, 

 known as the bottle-nosed whale, or Delpkinus deductor 

 so called because the herd follows the lead of a king 

 bull as wild cattle do. The Orcadians name it the 

 ' ca'ing ' whale because of the shrill bleat of the calves. 

 It travels in immense shoals, and strays into straits 

 and channels from which it does not seem to know 

 the means of egress. Thus, except for the fact that 

 the straits, channels, bays and voes of Orkney teem 

 with snares in their indentations and sinuosities, it has 

 no special connection with the islands. Shoals have 

 frequently been killed in the Hebrides ; they have 



