CHAP. II.] LEGISLATIVE MEASURES. 53 



to the whale fishery in general, and the number 

 of whales has decreased from year to year. The 

 female whale approaches the land merely for the 

 purpose of bringing forth and rearing her young. 

 Later in the year, when the calf has attained a cer- 

 tain size, the cows leave the immediate nejghbour- 

 hood of the coast, and return to the " whaling- 

 ground," where the males share with them the 

 dangers resulting from the pursuit of man. Would 

 it not, therefore, be advisable by legislative enact- 

 ments to put an end to the whale-fishery from the 

 coasts, and to restrict it to a certain distance from 

 shore, where it would have to be pursued in ships ? 

 To kill the calves in order to capture the mother, 

 or to kill the latter in the time of gestation, is an 

 unprofitable and cruel proceeding ; but it carries 

 with it its own punishment. In a few years this 

 trade, of which, from the geographical position of 

 the " whaling-ground," New Zealand might have 

 continued to be the centre, will be annihilated. 

 Seals, which were plentiful in New Zealand, but 

 were slaughtered in the same indiscriminate man- 

 ner, have already entirely disappeared. The pro- 

 tection proposed would only be such as the govern- 

 ments of all civilized nations have long bestowed 

 on their coast fisheries during certain seasons. Un- 

 fortunately there exists a belief that the female 

 whale in a state of gestation, or immediately after- 

 wards, yields the greatest quantity of oil ; but I 

 have reason to believe that this is entirely un- 



