THE WHALEBONE WHALES OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 23 



some of them came neere our shipp; this creature did astonish us that saw them 

 not before; their back appeared like a little island." (P. 42.) : 



On another page 3 are again mentioned " huge whales going by companies and 

 puffing up water-streames." 



Richard Mather, in his voyage to New England in 1635, mentions seeing near 

 that coast " mighty whales spewing up water in the air like the smoke of a chimney." 3 



In 1639, according to Starbuck, the Massachusetts colonies began to pass acts 

 relating to the fisheries. The earliest paper relating to whales which he quotes is 

 a proposition of the general court of Plymouth Colony respecting " drift fish," dated 

 October 1, 1661. 4 Neither this nor the later documents give any clue to the kind 

 of whales pursued, beyond passing references to whalebone and statements of the 

 amount of oil obtained, but it is probable, judging from evidence of later date, that 

 it was the Atlantic Right whale, alwna glacialis. 



NEW YORK BAY. 



The only early historian of New York whose writings, so far as I have been 

 able to ascertain, contain references to whales, is Adriaen Van der Donck. He 

 came to New York about 1645, and about 1653 published the first edition of his 

 Description of the New Netherlands. In this history he turns aside to mention the 

 appearance of two whales in the Hudson River in 1647, and of four others which 

 occurred there the same year, as follows : 



[1656. VAN DER DONCK'S "DESCRIPTION or THE NEW NETHERLANDS."] 



"I cannot refrain, although somewhat out of place, to relate a very singular 

 occurrence, which happened in the month of March, 1647, at the time of a great 

 freshet caused by the fresh water flowing down from above, by which the water 

 of the [Hudson] river became nearly fresh to the bay, when at ordinary seasons the 

 salt water flows up from twenty to twenty-four miles from the sea. At this season, 

 two whales, of common size, swam up the river forty miles, from which place one 

 of them returned and stranded about twelve miles from the sea, near which place 

 four others also stranded the same year. The other run farther up the river and 

 grounded near the great Chahoos falls, about forty-three miles from the sea. This 

 fish was tolerably fat, for although the citizens of Rensselaerwyck broiled out a 

 great quantity of train oil, still the whole river (the current being still rapid) was 

 oily for three weeks and covered with grease. As the fish lay rotting, the air was 

 infected with its stench to such a degree that the smell was offensive and percepti- 

 ble for two miles to leeward. For what purpose those whales ascended the river 

 so far, it being at the time full forty miles from all salt or brackish water, it is dif- 

 ficult to say, unless their great desire for fish, which were plenty at this season, led 

 them onward." B 



1 A True Relation of the Last Voyage to New England, begun the 251(1 of April, 1629, written 

 from New England, July 24, 1629. Hutchinson's Coll. Orig. Papers on Hist. Mass. Bay, 1769. 

 3 Op. tit., p. 46. 



' See his Journal. Quoted by Starbuck, op. fit., p. 5, foot-note. 

 ' STARBUCK, op. at., p. 7. 



6 VAN DER DONCK, A., A Description of the New Netherlands, 2d ed., 1656. 2 N. Y. Hist. 

 Coll., i, pp. 142-143. The first edition, according to the editor, was published about 1653. 



