OF CETACEOUS PISHES. 



49 



are about feven hundred in all : about two thirds of time 

 number are of a length fit for ufe, the rell being too 

 Jhort*. The oil is extraded from diiferent parts of the 

 body ; the tongue alone of fonie fi(h yielding from five 

 to fix barrels. 



As early as the beginning of the fourteenth century, 

 the B'lfeayneers were in poffelTion of a very conliderable 

 trade to the coaft of Greenland : They long en- 

 joyed the profits of a lucrative traffic in train oil, and 

 whale-bone, before the EngliJJj attempted to obtain any 

 fhare of that commerce. What probably firfl gave them 

 an idea of the advantages to be reaped from it, was the 

 accident of one of their fhips bringing a cargo of whale- 

 bone and train-oil from the bay of St Laurence^ part of 

 the burden of two large Bifcayan fhips that had been 

 wrecked there about the year fifteejn hundred and ninety- 

 four f . 



A few years after that period, the tovi^n of Hull had 

 the honour of ilrft attempting that profitable branch of 

 trade. At prefent it feems to be on the decline, the num- 

 ber of fi(h being greatly reduced by their conftant capture 

 for fuch a vail length of time. It is now faid that the 

 fifliers, from a defeft of whales, apply themfelves to feal 

 fi(hery, from which animals they alfo extraiSi: an oil, and 

 turn the fkins to good account. This trade however will 

 not probably be of any long continuance, for thefe fliy 

 and timid creatures will foon be induced to quit thofe 

 fhores by being perpetually harraffed. We are informed 

 too, that the natives of Greenland already begin to fufFcr 

 from the fcarcity of feals in their feas. The flefh of thefe 



Vol. III. G animals 



• Britifli Zoology, ullfupra. 

 •f Hadduyt. Vol. iii. p. 19.1. 



