20 The Story of the New England Whalers 



found in certain places along the north coast of 

 Spain, and called Basques, were the first to make 

 whaling a regular business. The ancient docu- 

 ments to be seen there show, at any rate, that 

 in 1150 King Sancho the Wise granted special 

 privileges in the matter of whaling to the city of 

 San Sebastian; and there is no record about 

 whaling to be found elsewhere among civilized 

 people of earlier date. It is not to be inferred 

 from this fact, however, that the Basques were 

 the inventors of the arts of whaling. The abo- 

 rigines of Europe in the stone age were certainly 

 as courageous and venturesome as those of 

 America, and the first white men to explore the 

 coast of New England found red whalers at work. 

 In every clan and tribe along the coast were men 

 accustomed to killing whales. 



Most interesting to the humanitarian is every 

 record of things done by the red men of America 

 in the days when they were undefiled by contact 

 with the white race. And of the stories of the 

 things done, few if any portray red manhood in 

 brighter colors than those relating to the whale 

 fishery. 



