342 ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



come scarce and much restricted in range. Sirenia skins have been used 

 to some extent for leather, but the quantity marketed has never been 

 large. 2 



The great northern or Steller's sea-cow (Rytina gigas), of the 

 northwestern North American coast, is said to have subsisted on "sea- 

 weeds." The history of its extermination by the greed of civilized man 

 is scandalous. It was discovered in 1742, and the last one was killed 

 in 1767 or 1768, the date given by Nordenskjold, 1854, being errone- 

 ous. 3 



ORDER CETACEA WHALES, PORPOISES AND DOLPHINS 



The interesting and romantic history of the whaling industry, its 

 former importance, its influence upon political history, exploration 

 and geographic science, its rise and fall, with statistics concerning the 

 production of oil, whalebone, ambergris, and other whale products, 

 the amount of capital invested and number of men employed in the 

 business, and the decrease in the number of whales, because of per- 

 sistent and uncontrolled hunting, are discussed at some length in Chap- 

 ter vi, with numerous references to the literature of the subject. 



Before petroleum and its products became available, followed by 

 gas and electric lights, whale and sperm oil were almost indispensable, 

 and sperm candles were a great improvement over tallow "dips" and 

 the torches of savages. The business of procuring and marketing these 

 commodities was considered "big business" before the vast expansion 

 of various enterprises growing out of modern inventions and modern 

 business methods. Whaling vessels pushed out into uncharted seas, 

 discovered many theretofore unknown bays, inlets and islands, and 

 carried our national flag for the first time to various foreign ports. 



Ambergris, a pathologic product from whale's stomachs, is much 

 more valuable in proportion to its weight than any other whale product. 

 Indeed, if is said to be the most valuable product of marine life ex- 

 cept pearls. However, in the aggregate, because of its quantity, baleen, 

 or whalebone, is, next to oil, the most valuable product of the whaling 

 industry. It consists of the elastic plates, 260 to 360 on each side of the 

 upper jaw in certain species of whales, forming strainers by means of 



2 Stevenson, Utilization of the skins of aquatic animals, Kept. U. S. Fish Comm. 

 for 1902, p. 338. 



3 Lucas, Animals recently extinct or threatened with extermination as represented 

 in the collections of the U. S. National Museum, Ann. Kept. U. S. Natl. Mus. for 

 1889, p. 623. Stejneger, Investigations relating to the extermination of Steller's sea- 

 cow, Proc. U. S. Natl. Mus., vn, 181-189, 1884; How the great northern sea-cow 

 (Rytina) became exterminated, Amer. Naturalist, xxi, 1047-1055, 1887. 



