326 A Week in Gaspe. 



our fishing districts the cod fishery forms a stable foundation, 

 and on this, little by little, and as far as prudence warrants, other 

 less certain fisheries are built, and -will be extended as opportu- 

 nity offers in the natural growth of wealth and population ; and 

 perhaps their principal use is to afford an opening to those rough 

 and adventurous spirits who cannot endure steady labor. It is 

 with such men, partly Americans, partly Irishmen, partly Nova 

 Scotians or Canadians, that many of the American fishing vessels 

 ate manned ; and hence their frequent turbulent and disorderly con- 

 duct when, in unfavourable seasons and bad weather, they throng 

 our harbours and the dram shops which unfortunately abound in 

 many of them. 



One branch of the fishery long successfully carried on by the 

 people of Gaspe, is however sufficiently adventurous in its character. 

 Seven whaling schooners are at present owned in the bay ; and 

 with their comparatively humble outfit of two whale boats and 

 sixteen men to each, they appear to carry on a thriving: business, 

 five out of the seven being known to have made good voyages in 

 the present summer. Formerly, whales could be obtained plenti- 

 fully in the Bay and its vicinity, but they are timid and not prolific, 

 and the fishermen have already driven them to the north shore 

 of the Gulf, and will probably soon have to follow them farther. 



Several species are taken by the Gaspe whalers ; but it is not 

 at present possible with certainty to identify all of them with 

 those described by naturalists. The black or right whale, Balaena 

 Mysticetus, is the principal and most valuable, though I believe 

 not very frequent. The great rorqual or finner, Borqualus Bo- 

 realis, usually shunned by whalers, is also sometimes killed, but 

 it yields less oil and is much more dangerous and troublesome 

 than the " Right " whale. Another rorqual, or perhaps a variety 

 of the same, is known as the " Sulphur " whale, from its yellow 

 belly, and is said to attain the length of 70 feet. Another whale 

 often taken is the " Humpback", which is either the Borqualus 

 Bostratus, or one of the whales included in the Genus Megaptera of 

 Gray. All these belong to the Balaenidae or whale-bone whales. 

 But beside these, the Gaspe whalers take the Grampus {Phocaena 

 Grampus), known here as the "Killer," and said to attack the 

 large whales in packs and to destroy them, a habit attributed to 

 it by the whale-fishers elsewhere, though it has been doubted by 

 naturalists. A smaller whale, known as the Black-fish in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, has been referred by various writers to dif- 



