86 REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF' FISH AND FISHERIES. 
night by the introduction of the u dog-watches ” makes the matter even, 
so that each watch has the 8 hours off duty each alternate night. 
But when whales are raised no regard is had for the “ watch below, ^ 
and all hands tumble out and are on the alert when the cry of “ There 
she blows ! ” resounds through the ship. While the trying-out proceeds, 
the boat-steerers improve all chauces they get to put their boats in 
order and to arrange harpoons, lines, etc., for another capture. 
The bone is by far the most valuable portion of a baleen whale and 
receives special attention. Some of the small schooners hunt for bone 
only, and make no attempt to save the blubber of whales captured by 
them, but give this away to larger craft, if any chance to be near. Such 
vessels are called “ bone-hunters.” When the head of a bowhead or 
right whale has been hoisted on deck, the whalebone is taken from it by 
cutting into the gums, to which the baleen is attached. As a rule the 
gums are taken out in sections, each of which has ten slabs of bone ; 
these are thrown into the hold, and later the bone is scraped, washed, 
and packed away in a condition ready for market. 
A correspondent of the New York Herald of November 6, 1887, writ- 
ing from Bering Strait, under date of October 7, makes the following 
remarks concerning a noticeable feature in whalebone taken that year: 
Another feature of the whaling this season has been the amount of white whale- 
hone taken, and in nearly every instance, if not all, it has been found in the bulls of 
70 to 100 barrels. Whether it is a peculiarity of the sex could not be learned. Many 
whalemen have believed it to be a freak of nature, but with as many cases as have 
occurred this year there must be some specific cause for it. 
Despite the hard work of cutting in, trying-out, and cleaning bone, 
the slipping about on greasy decks, and the unsavory odors from the 
try works, these occasions are generally the gala days of the whaleman’s 
life, for he has a u share ” in every gallon of oil and every pound of bone 
that goes into the hold.. But when the sun has turned on her southward 
course, the short Arctic summer is passed, and gales of autumn come 
with icy chilliness, quickly freezing every drop of spray that flies, when 
“young ice ” is forming and the ship is perhaps scudding away to escape 
the danger of being caught helpless in its grasp, then trying out be- 
comes a serious and uncomfortable duty that it would be difficult to 
keep men engaged upon were it not for the personal interest each has 
in the proceeds. 
Tenders . — The employment of steam- whalers, the ordinary require- 
ments of the trade, and the dangers which beset the whalemen in the 
fall, when the vessels are liable to be nipped and crushed in the ice, have 
made it expedient to employ “ tenders” to carry supplies to the Arctic 
fleet and to bring home such part of the catch as it is most convenient 
to send by freight. This usually consists of bone, which is the most 
valuable and the least bulky part of the products. Rendezvouses have 
been established at Point Hope, in about 68° north latitude ; at Point 
Clarence, in about 65° norths and at Point Barrow, in latitude 70° 20'. 
