THE LAST PHASE OF WHALING 267 



the White Whale, which appeared in the waters of 

 Spitsbergen and Nova Zembla as soon as the ice 

 began to break up in June. In schools of about 

 two hundred individuals they entered the bays, 

 where the female gave birth to the young in June 

 and the first half of July. The White Whale's 

 visit to Spitsbergen waters is not a food migration, 

 since at this time the stomach is empty. The 

 young when born are from four to five feet long 

 and of a dark brown colour. This colour gradually 

 becomes paler until in the adult it is quite white. 

 The White Whale is valuable, not only on account 

 of the oil it yields, but also for its skin, which can 

 be concerted into excellent leather. 



When a school is met with in the bays, an effort 

 is made, by surrounding them with boats, to drive 

 them into shallow water, where they are driven on 

 shore or captured by nets. On one occasion fifty 

 whales were driven ashore, killed, and the blubber 

 removed within thirty hours. 



The coastal fishery for Finners had by now com- 

 menced in Finmark, Tromso, and Iceland. The 

 whales were killed by means of an explosive 

 harpoon fired from a gun fixed in the bows of a 

 small steamer. These steamers gradually under- 

 went an evolution to the type figured, described, 

 and illustrated above. The whales being killed, 

 were towed ashore to a coastal station for treatment. 

 The Finmark fishery, which commenced about 

 1889, was concerned with four species of Finner 

 Whale; the Blue Whale, which was estimated at 



