THE A BI ERIC AN WHALE-FISHEBY. 215 



tary ; through Behring Sea into the Arctic Ocean, and as far north as the icy bar- 

 rier, which, in some seasons, was found beyond Point Barrow : in Hudson's Bay ; 

 in Baffin's Bay ; in Davis Straits ; on the Coast of Greenland ; about Spitzbergen. 

 Southern Right Whale Grounds. — On the Brazil Banks; on the coast of 

 Africa ; on the coast of Patagonia ; around the Falkknd Islands ; the Tristan 

 Ground, which Avas around the island of Tristan d'Acunha in the South Atlantic ; 

 around Gough's Island ; around St. Paul's, the Crozet and Kerguelen islands ; coast 

 of New Holland ; south coast of Chile ; coast of New Zealand ; off the Cape of 

 Good Hope. Many of the whaling -grounds mentioned have long since been aban- 

 doned, as the animals pursued have been literally cxtenninated by the harpoon and 

 lance ; and many of the names to the grounds are only given in the familiar appel- 

 lations of whalers, which embrace large tracts of ocean, sea, or gulf, within the 

 limits of which, in many cases, are found choice feeding -grounds where the animals 

 congregate. This is well-known to all careful observers, and is a fact that proves 

 the theories establishing the legitimate re.sorts of whales on purely scientific princi- 

 ples, in connection with the ocean currents, to be erroneous. These places can only 

 be known, or have been discovered, by practical observation ; and many a ship has 

 been filled with oil by cruising on a favorite spot, while others but a few leagues 

 distant, on the same general ground, may have met with indifferent success. Besides 

 the Cachalots and the Bight "\Miales, two species of the rorquals were occasionally 

 pursued, which are known as the Humpback, and the California Gray or Devilfish ; 

 the former are found broadcast over the waters of the globe, but many have been 

 taken in some of the bays on the coa^sts of Africa, Chile and Peru, Central America 

 and California, about the Rosemary Islands, and at Tongataboo (one of the Friendly 

 group) ; and the latter were, and still are, taken on the coast of California, in the 

 Arctic Ocean, and Okhotsk Sea. With the Humpbacks and California Grays, may 

 be mentioned the Blackfish, which were sometimes taken on Sperm Whale grounds ; 

 these, included with the Right Whales and Cachalots, were all the different species 

 of Cetaceans sought after by the whalers.* 



* The great rorqual, commonly called the greatest of great whales, has been devised. The 



Sulphurbottom, has been occasionally taken on manner of capturing those obtained on the coast, 



the coast of California of late years, but as yet is given with the description of the animal in 



no really successful mode of capturing this, the this work. 



