THE CALIFORNIA GRAY WHALE. 33 



and the skins form an indispensable article of clothing. The North-west Indians 

 realize the same comparative benefit from the captured animals as do the Esqui- 

 maux, and look forward to its periodical passage through their circumscribed fishing- 

 grounds as a season of exploits and profit. 



The civilized whaler seeks the hunted animal farther seaward, as from year to 

 year it learns to shun the fatal shore. None of the species are so constantly and 

 variously pursued as the one we have endeavored to describe ; and the large bays 

 and lagoons, where these animals once congregated, brought forth and nurtured 

 their young, are already nearly deserted. The mammoth bones of the California 

 Gray lie bleaching on the shores of those silvery waters, and are scattered along 

 the broken coasts, from Siberia to the Gulf of California ; and ere long it may be 

 questioned whether this mammal will not be numbered among the extinct species 

 of the Pacific. 



Marine Mammals.— 5. 



