DESTRUCTION BY MAN. 73 



sentatives, it appears that these marvellous creatures had 

 only attained their maximum size shortly before the time 

 when their very existence was to be threatened by the 

 relentless hand of man. 



Formerly the only members of this group of whales 

 which were thought worthy of general pursuit were the 

 right whales ; the shortness of their whalebone, coupled 

 with their relatively small yield of oil, and their tre- 

 mendous speed, rendering the rorquals scarcely worth the 

 trouble and risk of hunting. Of the two right whales, the 

 Greenland species, as being the more abundant, received 

 the greatest share of attention ; and so relentless has been 

 its pursuit, that it is now either well-nigh exterminated 

 from many of its ancient haunts, or has retreated still 

 farther north to regions almost impossible of access. As 

 showing how the constant persecution in the Greenland 

 seas has told upon the size of the comparatively few 

 remaining individuals of this species, it may be mentioned 

 that the eleven specimens killed there during the season 

 1890-91 yielded an average of less than 8 cwt. of whale- 

 bone, whereas in five taken during the same season in 

 Davis Strait the average yield was more than double this 

 amount. In consequence of this diminution in the number 

 and size of the Greenland whale, the value of whalebone 

 has of late years gone ixp enormously ; and whereas 

 some time ago whalebone of over six feet in length sold at 

 £1000 per ton, in 1892 it had reached the enormous price 

 of upwards of i2S00 per ton. The southern right whale 

 yields a smaller quantity of rather shorter and less valuable 

 bone, now selling at from ±1600 to £1800 per ton; the 

 quantity obtained from a well-grown example varying from 

 800 to 1200 pounds. The amount of oil produced by a 

 whale of the same species averages from eight to fourteen 

 tons, of which the present market value is about £28 per 

 ton. If the unfortunate animals are not allowed some 

 respite, it is only too probable that the supply will before 

 long cease altogether. 



As another result of this growing scarcity of the Green- 

 land whale, attention has been directed to the previously 

 despised rorquals and hump-backs ; the employment of 



