140 NEWFOUNDLAND 



the whales, and this involved such constant work and travel 

 that I feared a break-down under the strain. One mammal, 

 the blue whale, it was absolutely necessary to examine in 

 the flesh, and this, owing to its comparative scarcity in British 

 waters, I hoped to find on the Newfoundland coasts. Accord- 

 ingly I set out, at the end of July 1905, with the intention 

 of spending a month in quest of this, the greatest of all 

 living creatures. 



On arrival at St. John's I learned that all whales were 

 very scarce, and that only one blue whale had been killed in 

 Newfoundland waters during the past month. This did not 

 look well for success, as the blue whales, after leaving the 

 south coast in June, generally work out to the Grand Banks 

 in their pursuit of the red shrimps, and do not return until the 

 late autumn. The difficulty in selecting a station, therefore, 

 was considerable, whilst all the owners of the various factories 

 admitted the impossibility of selecting a base where success 

 was certain. 



Eventually I chose the St Lawrence Factory, near the 

 point of Placentia and Fortune Bay, as this seemed to 

 be well placed for distant sea trips. Moreover, I should 

 have at this point the society and advice of Dr. Rismuller, 

 the American-German savant, who has done more than any 

 living man for the whaling industry. On applying to Mr. 

 John Harvey for permission to stay at St. Lawrence, I was 

 received with great kindness, and given every facility to study 

 my subject. The owners of other factories, such as Mr. 

 Edgar Bowring, Mr. Macdougall, and the Job brothers all 

 extended such cordial invitations that I was sorry there was 

 not sufficient time to visit their stations. St. John's people 

 are nothing if not hospitable, and on this, as on other 

 occasions, I was given every information by the Ministry 



