XIV 



WHALES, AND BKITISH AND COLONIAL WHALE 

 FISHERIES i 



WHEN asked by your Council to lecture upon some subject 

 connected with natural history, it occurred to me that the 

 great link between Britain and all her Colonies was the ocean, 

 and that, therefore, something concerning its animal inhabitants 

 might be interesting to those whose avocations and situation 

 in life call them to traverse its pathless ways. Even in an 

 ordinary voyage, such as is necessitated by any intercourse 

 between a Colony and the Mother Country, some familiarity 

 may be acquired with the gigantic denizens of the deep ; but 

 the knowledge of them so gained is generally so slight and 

 superficial that I venture to think that some more accurate 

 and definite information about them would be welcome. The 

 subject I have chosen is, however, so large that I can only, in 

 the limited time allowed on one evening, select a few of the 

 more interesting features in the history of these remarkable 

 animals, both from the point of view of the naturalist and in 

 their relation to human civilisation and commerce. 



In the admirable sketch, by our greatest living naturalist, 

 of the history of the science of comparative anatomy during 

 the present century, appended to the recently published Life 

 of Sir Richard Owen, Professor Huxley says: "Take, for 

 example, the question whether a whale is a fish or not, which, 

 I observe, is not yet quite settled for some people. As the whale 

 is not a little like a fish outside, and lives permanently in the 

 sea, why should it not be classed with the fishes ? " Before 

 proceeding to answer this question, I must ask another. In 



1 Lecture at the Royal Colonial Institute, 8th January 1895. 



