ON THE GREENLAND RIGHT-WHALE. 47 



obtain certain information about a matter at that time of essential importance in a geographical 

 point of view, found out one of the sailors returned from the Corean captivity, one Benedictus 

 Klerk, of Rotterdam, and was informed verbally by him, that he had himself once been present 

 when such a whale, in which a Dutch harpoon was sticking, was thrown up on the coast of 

 Corea.' A similar instance is mentioned by Zorgdrager, who, according to the statement of 

 persons whose names he mentions, informs us that in the " Tartar Sea" (most likely near the 

 coast of Japan), a whale had been found in the back of which a harpoon was sticking, marked with 

 the letters W. B., which by this means could be ascertained to have belonged to a Dutch 

 vessel on a whaling expedition to Spitzbergen, commanded by one Wilhelm Bastianse.^ Finally, 

 we have an instance of a whale, with an European harpoon sticking in it, having stranded on 

 the coast of Kamtschatka. Por when the Siberian traveller, the Academician C. P. Muller, 

 stayed at Jakutzk, in the year 1736, he met with a Dutch sailor whose name vras Henrich 

 Busch, who had joined the expedition which the Russians had undertaken in the year 1714 

 in order to find a way from Okhotsk to Kamtschatka, and who told him that, in the year 1716, 

 during the stay of the expedition near the mouth of the River Kompakova (on the west coast of 

 the peninsula, about 50° N. lat.)j a whale had been thrown ashore having a harpoon sticking in 

 it of European workmanship, and marked with Roman letters.^ It is true that Miiller adds that 

 Busch could neither read nor write, and as the Kossacks, whom he accompanied, were in the 

 same predicament, it is possible that his account is not to be imderstood according to the 

 letter; but, on the whole, this circumstance can scarcely diminish the trustworthiness of his 



^ Noord en Oost Tartarye, Ed. 2, Amsterdam, 1705, vol. i, p. 43. "De Hollanders, die in, t 

 Jaer 1653 op Korea gevangen zijn geweest, oordeelden uit de harponen, die zy in de gevange 

 "Walvissclien aldaer vonden, dat dezelve door de Weigats derwaerts waren komen zwemmen. En tot 

 bevestiging, dat de HoUandsche Ilarpoenen op Korea in de Walvisch ziju gevonden, zoo hebbe ik met 

 Benedictus Klerk van Eotterdam, ivelke op Korea gevangen geweest is den tijd van dertien Jaren, over 

 deze Harpoeneu gesprooken, die dan verzeekert, wel toe te liebben gezien, wanneer in zijn tegen- 

 woordigheit uit het lichaem van een Walviscli op Korea, een HoUandsche Harpoen wierde geliaelt, 

 en zegt uitdrukkelijk zulks aen Let maekzels gezien te beppen. Hy gaf reden van kennis, dat by 

 en andere zijner makkers, in hun jeugt uit Holland op de Groenlandsche Visschery hadde gevaeren, en 

 vervolgens de Harpoenen wel kenden." Again, page 44: "Een HoUandsche Harpoen vonden de 

 Nederlanders in een Walvisch steecken, die daer te Lande tegen de wal dood aenquam drijven, hy was 

 zeer klaer te onderscheiden van een Koresche of Japansche Harpoen, om da de HoUandsche Har- 

 poenen qualijk het derde van de groote der Koresche of Japansche Harpoenen hebben. De Inlanders 

 zeiden dat zy mede meermalen diergelijke Harpoenen outdekten in Walvissen, welke zy bequamen, 

 door aenstranding op hare Kusten.^' 



^ Zorgdrager, German translation (Leipsig, 1723), p. 187. " Hiernechst dienet noch zur 

 Versicherung und Bestattigung dieser Gedanken, was Peter Jansz. Vischer mir erzehlefc hat, 

 nemlich, dass ein in Ost-Indien geweseuer Fiscal, Namens Zeemanu, ihm selbst berichtet habe, was 

 masen in der Tartarischen See ein Wallfisch ist gefaugen worden, in dessen Eiicken eine Hollandische 

 Harpun stack, so mit dem Buchstaben W. B. gezeichnet war, und einem Groiilandsfahrer vom Admiral 

 Wilhelm Bastianse gehoret : selbige wird allda in der Kayserl. Kunst-Cammer zur Earitat aufgehoben 

 wie der Ost-Indische Schiffer Jacob Col von Sardam bezeuget, welcher auch mehr als einmal in 

 Gronland gewesen ist, dahero ihm sothane Harpun bekannt war." 



■' Miiller, G. E., Sammlung llussischer Geschichte. Des 3'''' Bandes, 1='°', 2''='u. Q'-'^ Stiick. St. 

 Petersburg, 1758, p. 104. 



