NORTHERN WHALE FISHERY. 97 



ginal grounds in Labrador and Davis Straits have 

 been regarded only as secondary objects ; and every 

 nerve has been strained to reach those interior shores 

 in high latitudes, where whales are still found in 

 abundance. If, however, the prize is here found, 

 so also is a corresponding risk ; and dangers far 

 exceeding those previously met with, have been 

 encountered, and disasters which had never been 

 previously equalled, even in this hazardous trade. 



The British capital embarked in this branch of 

 commerce is calculated to be at the present time 

 upwards of .1,000,000 Sterling. The average 

 return for the five years, ending with 1818, was 

 .567,000 per annum; that of 1814, a year pecu- 

 liarly favourable, was above .700,000; that of 

 .829 was upwards of .376,000 ; and 'that of 1830, 

 including the South Sea Fishing, was .428,591. 

 When a ship returns clean, the loss is estimated 

 about .2000; and the total expenses of a voyage, 

 which yields two hundred tons of oil, is about 

 .3500. 



The average price of oil for the last twenty years 

 has been about .30 per ton; and of whalebone 

 .163. The greatest cargo ever known by Mr. 

 Scorseby, to have been brought from the northern 

 seas, was that by Captain Souter of the Resolution 

 of Peterhead, in 1814. It consisted of forty-four 

 wliales, yielding two hundred and ninety-nine tons 

 of oil, which sold at .9568; and adding the 

 bounty and whalebone, the entire returns amounted 

 .11,000. In 1817. both Mr Scovseby and IiU 



