4G8 HISTORY OF 



water, making a report at each blow louder tlian tiie noise of a 

 cannon." 



There is still another and more powerful enemy, called by the 

 fishermen of New- England, the Killer. This is itself a cetace- 

 ous animal, armed with strong and powerful teeth. A number 

 of these are said to surround the whale, in the same manner as 

 dogs get round a bull. Some attack it with their teeth behind ; 

 others attempt it before, until at last the great animal is torn 

 down, and its tongue is said to be the only part they devour 

 when they have made it their prey. They are said to be of such 

 great strength, that one of them alone was known to stop a dead 

 whale that several boats were towing along, and drag it from 

 among them to the bottom. 



But of all the enemies of these enormous fishes, man is the 

 greatest : he alone destroys more in a year than the rest in an 

 age, and actually has thinned their numbers in that part of the 

 world where they are chiefly sought. The great resort of these 

 animals was found to be on the inhospitable shores of Spitzber- 

 gen ; where the distance of the voyage, the coldness of the cli- 

 mate, the terrors of the icy sea, and, still more, their own for- 

 midable bulk, might have been expected to protect them from hu- 

 man injury. But all these were but slight barriers against man's 

 arts, his courage, and his necessities. The European ships, soon 

 after the improvement of navigation, found the way into those 

 seas ; and as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century, 

 the Biscayneers were in possession of a very considerable trade 

 to the coast of Greenland. The Dutch and the English fol- 

 lowed them thither, and soon took that branch of commerce out 

 of their hands. The English commenced the business about 

 the beginning of the seventeenth century; and the town of Hull 

 had the honour of first attempting that profitable branch of 

 trade.* But, at present, it seems upon the decline, as the quan- 



• The following' account of the Irish Whale Fishery daring the last cen. 

 tiu'y may be acceptable. The Fishery eventually failed, but it Is worthy of 

 consideration whether a revival of it, under an improved state of Irish trade 

 and commerce, might not be beneficial. In the year 1736, a certain lieute- 

 nant of the name of Chaplin, quartered at Gibraltar, and who had been for. 

 inerly employed in the Greenland fishery, was informed by Captain Neshit, 

 who was also quartered in that garrison, that in the spring of the year many 

 whales frequented the north-west coast of Ireland, from Tyland-head, lu 

 the county of Donegal, to the bay of Sligo. Chaplin, being an enterprising 



