206 WHALES AND WHALE FISHERIES xiv 



in New Zealand, and as much as 30 in London. In other 

 parts of the islands the fishery was continued for a longer 

 period. It is stated that in 1843 the whale fishery on the 

 whole of the coast employed eighty-five boats and some 730 

 men, and the oil taken amounted to 1290 tons, valued at 

 20,000, the whalebone being valued at 12,000. After 

 this period the decline in the take became very rapid, and the 

 stations with their great shears for hoisting the bodies of the 

 whales on shore for the purpose of flensing, the furnaces and 

 boiling pots for " trying out " the oil, and the bold and hardy, 

 but unhappily rough and dissolute, inhabitants entirely 

 disappeared from the scene. The cause of this is not 

 difficult to divine. The result was fully anticipated by 

 all who carefully observed what was going on. Almost 

 literally the goose that laid the golden egg was being killed. 

 The whales appeared in the month of May and remained till 

 October. Those that approached nearest to the coast and 

 were the easiest prey to the fishermen were females about to 

 bring forth their young. It was the regular habit of this 

 species of whale to seek at this season some quiet, sheltered 

 harbour, bay, or inlet, and there to remain with the new- 

 born young, until it acquired strength and vigour enough to 

 take care of itself in the open sea. The very affection of the 

 whale for her young thus became the principal cause of its 

 destruction. The whalers soon discovered that if the calf (as 

 they called it) was wounded or caught the mother would never 

 leave it, and they found that the calf, though of no value 

 in itself, being inexperienced and slow, was easily captured, 

 and then the mother became a sure prey. To the old code, 

 regulating the northern whale fisheries, which assigned the 

 whale to the boat which first fixed a harpoon securely in it, 

 they added : " The boat making fast to a calf has a right to 

 the cow, because the cow will not desert her young." It should 

 be added that strong protests were made against this cruel and 

 in the end unprofitable mode of capture, but they all passed 

 unheeded. The result has been to the southern right whale 

 much the same as that which happened to its Atlantic ally 

 after its persecution by the Basques, although it was brought 

 about in a much shorter space of time. The whale not only 



