THE LAST PHASE OF WHALING 291 



thousand whales were being slaughtered annually. 

 It is unnecessary to give detailed statistics each year, 

 those just given for 1910 give a fair idea of the 

 position at the end of the first decade of the twentieth 

 century. 1 



At the end of the first decade of the twentieth 

 century the whaling industry had practically passed 

 entirely into Norwegian hands. 2 Prior to the out- 

 break of the great war (1914-8) this fishery had 

 attained extraordinary dimensions. 



The prohibition of whaling off the Norwegian 

 districts of Nordland, Tromso, and Finmark by the 

 law of the 7th January, 1904, led to a great dispersal 

 of Norwegian whaling interests. This is seen to be 

 particularly noticeable in the southern hemisphere 

 from the following statistical table: 



NORWEGIAN WHALING COMPANIES. 

 CATCH OF OIL. 



Northern Southern 



hemisphere. hemisphere. 



igo6 47,200 barrels 4,200 barrels 



1907 57,750 7,5oo 



iQo8 69,000 21,000 



iQog 57,ooo 7!7oo 



igio 45,500 137,600 



igii 38,000 306,000 



At the commencement of 1912 there were sixty 

 Norwegian companies at work, mostly with their 

 headquarters on the south coast of Norway at 



1 For detailed statistics for igii, see C. Rabot, " La Nature," 

 igi2. Translated into English in the Smithsonian Institution 

 Re-port for 1913 (1914)- 



2 Hval-fangsten i. 1912. Sigurd Risting, Bergen, 1913. 



