NORTHWARD BOUND 11 



in a stream which empties into the Bay at its upper 

 end. 



The whale factory at Hawkes Harbor, typical of 

 the whale factories of the coast, is a big, box-like 

 frame structure, fitted with immense caldrons for 

 rendering the oil, and machinery for working up and 

 utilizing the carcass. In front of it is an extensive 

 cutting-up stage or platform, and sloping down from 

 this into the water a smooth-planked way, up which 

 the carcasses are drawn. Two whales, partly cut up, 

 were on the platform when we arrived, and another, 

 anchored a few yards from shore, was hauled up 

 while we were there. Mr. Collins, the superintendent, 

 had this one measured, at my request, and it was found 

 to be sixty-eight feet four and one-half inches in 

 length, and its weight was estimated, by Mr. Collins, 

 to be seventy-two tons. 



In these modern factories every part of the whale 

 is utilized. The oil and whalebone of commerce are 

 very valuable, and the manufacture of the carcass 

 into guano after the oil has been extracted, is an 

 industry in itself. Until recently the oil-freed car- 

 cass was considered useless refuse. It was towed 

 fifty miles out to sea and abandoned. The law re- 

 quired this, that the fishing-grounds might not be 

 polluted. But a voyage of fifty miles to sea and 

 back again is costly, and through experiment it was 

 learned not only that this expense might be saved, 

 but that it was possible to manufacture the refuse 

 into a valuable commodity. 



