THE WHALE FISHERY. 61 



destroyed every year by the enterprising California whalemen far exceeds the above estimate."* 

 The production of the various whaling-camps in 1879 was 63 whales, yielding 58,084 gallons of oil, 

 valued at $26,137.80. The total number of men engaged at the camps was 101, nearly all of whom 

 were Portuguese. 



SHORE-WHALING BY ESKIMOS AND INDIANS. 



The Eskimos of Alaska capture whales of several species, using their flesh for food and from 

 the blubber preparing oil for domestic use. The whalebone is .saved and traded with the whaling- 

 vessels coming along those shores in the summer season. .The beluga or white whale is also an 

 object of pursuit. 



Mr. Petroff, in his census report on Alaska, says: "The oil obtained from the beluga and the 

 large seal (Maklak) is a very important article of trade 1 between the lowland people and those of 

 tin- mountains, the latter depending upon it entirely for lighting their semi-snbterranean dwell- 

 ings during the winter, and to supplement their scanty stores of food. The oil is manufactured 

 by a very simple process. Huge drift-logs are fashioned into troughs, much in the same manner 

 as the Thlinket tribes make their wooden canoes. Into these troughs filled with water the blubber 

 is thrown in lumps of from 2 to 5 pounds in weight; then a large number of smooth cobble-stones 

 are thrown into a fire until they are thoroughly heated, when they are picked up with sticks 

 fashioned for the purpose, and deposited in the water, which boils up at once. After a few 

 minutes these stones must be removed and replaced by fresh ones, this laborious process being 

 continued until the oil has been boiled out of the blubber and floats on the surface, when it is 

 removed with flat pieces of bone or roughly fashioned ladles, and decanted into bladders or whole 

 seal skins." t Mr. Petroff sends us the following graphic description of the hunt: 



" BELUGA HUNTING AT ALASKA. Next day about noon I was invited to participate in a canoe 

 excursion in pursuit of some beluga or white grampus, a member of the whale family, but of an aver- ./ 

 age length of only 16 or 20 feet. The blubber of this animal is considered a great delicacy by the In- 

 dians in this neighborhood, and the Laiada chief wished to get a supply of that greasy staff of life 

 before returning home. Accordingly we started off in ten bidarkas, all the Indians being provided 

 with various sizes of spears, while I took nothing but my rifle. In half an hour after leaving the 

 mouth of the river the proposed hunting-ground was reached and the canoes separated in search 

 of the game. For some time we cruised about without seeing a ' blow,' but finally the long expected 

 signal shout was heard from one of the canoes, and all assembled immediately around their intended 

 victim, which was a female beluga, with a calf following in its wake. First the old one would come 

 up and blow, and in a few seconds after the young one would follow suit, throwing up a diminutive 

 spout. The calf was attacked first, and as soon as its blood dyed the water, the dam turned 

 around as if in pursuit of the murderer, describing circles around the floating body of its offspring 

 ami lashing the water into foam with its tail and flukes. While racing around the animal 

 received well-aimed spears from the bidarkas, which had formed a circle, and as these weapons 

 are provided with inflated bladders near the head, the beluga was soon buoyed up on the surface 

 of the water, being too exhausted to draw under the large number of bladders fastened to its back 

 and sides, and in that position was easily killed. Three more were killed in the same manner, and 

 the party was preparing to return to the village when I thought I would try another way of secur- 

 ing the game, and without giving any notice to the men in the other canoes, as 1 ought to have done, 

 I aimed my rifle at a beluga which was showing its huge white back above the water a short dis- 

 tance from me. The shot went off and its effect was instantaneous, though not exactly as I had 



* SCAMMON: Marine Mammalia, p. 251. 



t Alaska, its Population, Industries, aiid Resources, by Ivan Petroff. Tenth. Census, Vol. VIII. 



