THE WHALE FISHERY. 63 



the Clyoquot and Nootkan Indians use it with their food. There is no portion of a whale, except 

 the vertebne and offal, which is useless to the Indians. The blubber and flesh serve for food; the 

 sinews are prepared and made into ropes, cords, and bowstrings ; and the stomach and intestines 

 are carefully sorted and inflated, and when dried are used to hold oil. Whale-oil serves the same 

 purpose with these Indians that butter does with civilized people; they dip their dried halibut 

 into it while eating 1 , and use it with bread, potatoes, and various kinds of berries. When fresh, 

 it is by no means unpalatable ; and it is only after being "badljrboiled, or by long exposure, that 

 it becomes rancid and as offensive to a white man's palate as the common lamp-oil of the shops." 



5. DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPEEM-WHALE FISHERY. 



EARLY HISTORY OF WHALING AT NANTXJCKET. The fishery for sperm whales began at a 

 much later period than that for right whales, but the exact date of its commencement is 

 unknown. The whales taken by the early settlers of New England were mostly the right or whale- 

 bone species and tlie first spermaceti whale known to the people of Nantucket caused great excite- 

 ment. It was found dead on the shore, and quite a dispute arose concerning its ownership, " for 

 the sperm procured from the head was thought to be of great value for medical purposes." It 

 would thus appear that sperm whales had been heard of by these people, but had not been seen by 

 them. " The first spermaceti whale taken by the Nantucket whalers," says Macy, " was killed by 

 Christopher Hussey. He was cruising near the shore for right whales, and was blown off some dis- 

 tance from the land by a strong northerly wind, where he fell in with a school of that species of 

 whales, and killed one and brought it home. At what date this adventure took place is not fully 

 ascertained, but it is supposed to be not far from 1712. This event gave new life to the business, 

 for they immediately began with vessels of about thirty tons to whale out in the ' deep,' as it was 

 then called, to distinguish it from shore-whaling. They fitted out for cruises of about six weeks, 

 carried a few hogsheads, enough probably to contain the blubbers of one whale, with which, after 

 obtaining it, they returned home. The owners then took charge of the blubber, and tried out the 

 oil, and immediately sent the vessel out again. In 1715 the number of vessels engaged in the 

 whaling business was six, all sloops of from thirty to forty tons burden each, which produced 

 1,100 sterling, or $4,888.88." * 



BKALK'S ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN OF THE SPERM-WHALE FISHERY. The history of the sperm- 

 whale fishery is accurately given by Thomas Beale,t in his history of the sperm-whale, in which 

 he says: " The origin of the sperm-whale fishery, that is before it became organized as a branch 

 of commerce like the origin of other fisheries of the same nature, is involved in such deep 

 mystery as almost altogether to defy the searching acumen of the historian. Without looking into 

 the ancient, romancing, and classical histories, with which most of the countries of Europe abound, 

 and which contain wonderful stories of the appearance, death, or capture of the sperm-whale, or 

 other creatures of the same order, it may be sufficient for some of us to know that during the 

 early part of the last century a few daring individuals who inhabited the shores of the American 

 continent, fitted out their little crafts, furnished with weak and almost impotent weapons, to 

 attack and destroy in its own element the mighty monarch of the ocean, in order to rob his 

 immense, carcass of the valuable commodity with which it is surrounded. But even as far back as 

 the year 1GG7 we, Jiud a letter, published in the second volume of the Philosophical Transactions, 

 from Mr. Eichard Norwood, who resided at the Bermudas, which states that the whale-fishery had 



: Hist. N:intiirkrt;, \>[>. :ix!, :i6. 

 I The Natural History ol the .Sperm-Whale by Thomas Bualu, Surgecm : London, ItvJd ; l;Juio.,pu. 3S>3. 



