244 



DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS — CLASS I. MAMMALIA. 



^\'c Icani tliat wlien some of'tlicin draw the line or .strike the liarpoon oi; the 

 coast of Aliiea, otiiers run tiie loiigituile, and [)ursue their gigantic game 

 along the coa.st of Brazil. Xo sea but what is vexed witli their tislieries. No 

 climate that is not witness of their toil. Neither the perseverance of Holland, 

 nor the dexterous aud firm sagacity of English enterprise, e\er carried tliis 

 most perilous mode of hardy industry to the extent to which it has been pur- 

 sued by this recent people, a people who arc yet in the gristle, and not 

 hardened into manhood.'' 



The first attempts of tlio English in whale-fishing dates as far back as 

 15D4, when some ships were sent out to (Jape Breton for morse and 

 whale fishing. 



The fishing proved unsuccessful, but they found on an island eight hundred 

 whale fins, or whalebone, part of tire cargo of a Biseayan shiii, wrecked there 

 three years before, which they jiut on lioard and brought home. This was 

 the first time this substance was imported into England. 



Hull took the lead in the Greenland whale fishery in l.DlliS, thirteen years 

 after the first company for that purpose had been formed in Amsterdam ; and 

 as both maritime nations gave it every encouragement, not only on account 

 of its profits, but also from considering it as one of the best nurseries for 

 their .seamen, it gradually grew to a very important branch of business. 

 Some idea may I>o formed of the extent to which the Dutch engaged in the 

 whale fishery during the last century, liy stating, that for a pcriiid of Ibrty- 

 six years preceding 11 ■22, five thousand eight hundred and eighty-six ships 

 were engaged in it, and captured thirty-two thousand nine hundred and 

 seven whales.. . 



In the year 1788, t\vo hundred and twenty-two English vessels were 

 engaged in the northern fishery. 



The earliest period at which we find the pursuit of the sperm Avhale con- 

 ducted upon a scientific plan is about 1(V.J(), when it was connnenced by the 

 American colonists. In 177") ships were first scut out from ports of Great 

 Britian, but for some yeans- it was necessary to appoint an American com- 

 mander and harpoon»r, until competent officers could Ijc reared. At the 

 same early date the sperm fishery was chiefiy prosecuted in the Atlantic ; but 

 Messrs. Endcrby's ship "Emilia" having rounded Cape Horn in 178S, first 

 carried the sperm whale fishery into the Pacific, where its success opened a 

 wide and fruitful field for future exertions. As the seamen liecame better 

 ac([uainted with the South Sea, many valuable resorts were discovered. In 

 l.Slil the "Syren" (British) first carried on the fishery in the western parts 

 of that great ocean, and in the year LSIS the American whaler "Superior," 

 Captain Boys, penetrated through Bchring's Straits into the Icy Sea, and 

 opened the fishery in those remote waters. The year after, no less than six 



