CHAPTER II 



THE ECONOMICS OF WHALING 

 The regulations for the protection of whales. 



ORIGINALLV -vhr.!-.s were hur f ed fo? their oil 

 Their bodies are covered, immediately uiider th<L 

 skin, with a layer of fat or blubber, which in a 

 large specimen is from twelve to eighteen inches 

 thick. In young whales this blubber resemblej 

 hog's lard, in old ones it is of a reddish colour. 

 This was formerly considered to be the valuable 

 part of the whale, but, as will be seen, very little of 

 the whale's carcass is now wasted. The blubber 

 yields by expression and boiling nearly its own 

 weight of a thick viscid oil (train oil). The word 

 train has nothing to do with railways, but is derived 

 from the Dutch " Traan," a tear, i.e., a drop. Th 

 oil was originally used in the old-fashioned 

 offensive " whale oil " lamps as an illuminant. 

 Early in the nineteenth century it became gradually 

 displaced by other illuminants. 



A full account of the uses of whale oil is give,a 

 by Scoresby (1820). Up to that date it was 

 largely used in the lighting of the streets of towns, 



39 



