THE WHALE FISHERY. 23 



Captain Scammon records the following observations on this species of whale : " In the years 

 1852 and 1853 large numbers of humpbacks resorted to the Gulf of Guayaquil, coast of Peru, to 

 calve, and the height of the season was daring the months of July and August. The same may 

 be said of the gulfs and bays situated near the corresponding latitudes north of the equator; still, 

 instances are not infrequent when cows and their calves have been seen at all other seasons of 

 the year about the same coast. In the Bay of Valle de Banderas, coast of Mexico (latitude 20 

 30'), in the month of December, we saw numbers of humpbacks, with calves but a few days old. 

 In May, 1855, at Magdaleua Bay, coast of Lower California (about latitude 24 30'), we found 

 them in like numbers, some with very large calves, while others were very small. The season at 

 Tongataboo (one of the Friendly Islands, latitude 21 south, longitude 174 west), according to 

 Captain Beckerrnau, includes August and September. Here the females were usually large, 

 yielding an average of 40 barrels of oil, including the entrail fat, which amounted to about 6 

 barrels. The largest whale taken at this point during the season of 1871 produced 73 barrels, 

 and she was adjudged to be 75 feet in length."* 



In the year 1872 humpback whaling was successfully prosecuted at Panama Bay; Harper's 

 and Tonga Islands ; Chesterfield Shoals ; coast of Africa ; West Indies ; Crozet and Desolation 

 Islands. The last two islands have been visited more especially for the capture of right whales 

 and sea elephants, though humpback whales were taken here and in other parts of the Indian 

 Ocean. 



(e) FINBACK, SULPHUR BOTTOM, AND OTHER WHALING GROUNDS. 



SULPHUR-BOTTOM WHALES. The finback and the sulphur-bottom whales are found in most 

 parts of the different oceans and in some places are very numerous. The sulphur-bottom is the 

 largest whale known, varying from 60 to 100 feet or more. It is, like the finback, exceedingly 

 swift in its movements, and can be captured only by the whaling rocket or the bomb-gun. Captain 

 Seabury states that "they sometimes follow the vessel for miles." There can hardly be said to be 

 any special grounds where the sulphur-bottom is captured, comparatively few having ever been 

 taken. On the coast of California the shore-whalemen have taken a few, and several were taken 

 some years since by the schooner Page, of San Francisco, off the port of San Quentiu, Lower Cali- 

 fornia. An attempt was made about 1865 to establish a, fishery for this species at Iceland. " Two 

 or three small screw steamers/' says < Captain Seabury, " were sent there from England to whale in the 

 bays, using for the capture a whale-gun and a large line to go through the bottom of the boat. 

 They were quite successful in taking the whale, and followed up the business for two or three years, 

 but the expense being greater than the income, it was abandoned. Beyond those taken by this 

 expedition off Iceland, there have been but few sulphur-bottoms captured." 



FINBACK WHALES. This whale is taken principally by shore-whalemen, vessels preferring 

 more profitable game, as the finback has but little blubber, no valuable bone, and withal is very 

 difficult to capture. They are taken by the California boat-whalers, and for two years past have 

 been captured in considerable number along the coast of New England, especially at Provincetown, 

 where forty-eight were secured in tlie spring of 1880. The shore-whaling stations on the coasts of 

 Norway and Finmark are for the capture of this species. 



GRAY WHALE OR DEVIL-FISH. The California gray whale, also called "devil-fish" and 

 "mussel-digger," is found principally on the coast of California, in the bays and gulfs and along 

 the shores, in shoal water. The most noted places are Magdalena Bay, in about latitude 25 north, 

 and Scammon's Lagoon, in about latitude 30 north. They are also found and taken in the 



"Marine Mammalia, p. 43. 



