THE FINWHALE FISHERY oF 1885. 123 
Three-fourths of this number (viz., 76, not 200) consisting of 
small Whales, and the remaining quarter including no Blue 
Whales, the amount is naturally smaller than the average from 
that number of mixed Balenopteride; but the proportion of 
each quality also would not always hold good, as the relative 
amount of each quality differs in the different species, and 
young Whales have more blubber than old ones; the time of 
year also makes some difference. 
The system of converting the krang into guano is becoming 
more general, and a large quantity is now manufactured. The 
following figures will give some idea of how extensive this branch 
is:—The Haabet Company and the Christiania Whaling Company 
have each about 6000 sacks of guano; ‘‘ Jar Fjord Cattle-tonic 
and Glue Company” (Kraftfoder* og Lim Fabrik) has from 
5000 to 6000 sacks; and Ara 1700 sacks: total about 19,000 
sacks, holding 100 kilos. (4 bushels). 
With regard to the value of the oil, I cannot do better than 
quote from a letter received in November from Capt. David Gray, 
of Peterhead, and which he has kindly given me leave to make 
public. He says :—‘‘Our home markets have been overstocked 
with it so much that we cannot now sell a single ton of oil at a 
price that would pay the bare expense of taking it. Norwegian 
Finner-oil is now selling in London at £18 per ton. Our own 
Whale-oil is now only £22, instead of £40 as it used to be. It 
is also much the same with the Seal-oil...... In 1882 I 
opened up a new fishery, viz., the Bottle-nose...... I could 
readily get from £50 to £60 per ton for the oil. The Norwegians 
got notice of it through our newspapers, sent out a number of 
ships,—in fact elbowed us out of it: they are now selling this 
oil in London at £25 per ton. It cost me £82 per ton to deliver 
it in London, so you can easily see that soon stopped us catching 
the Bottle-noses. I thought at first that I had ‘struck oil,’ 
having killed in two months 203 of them, yielding 232 tons, 
which I sold in London for £12,700. We could live and thrive 
at those prices, but I would not send a boat after them now.” 
Capt. Gray goes on to give a gloomy view of the Greenland 
Whaling, which, though foreign to the subject of this paper, is 
* Kraftfoder (lit. ‘‘strength-provender”), is intended as a tonic for cattle, 
and not merely as manure (Zool. 1885, p. 187). 
