NOTES ON THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY. 107 



land shore and the open Atlantic to the southward of that. They 

 are supposed to whelp fifty miles or so to the westward of the 

 Magdalene Islands on immense sheets, or possibly, even probably, 

 on ice frozen to and extending out a long distance from the 

 Canadian shore. Unless there is a prevalence of strong westerly 

 winds, or an unusually mild spring, these Harps are seldom got 

 in any quantities. Capt. Joy says that the eastern Harps whelp 

 on the ice in the neighbourhood of Cape Whittle, and are driven 

 by the winds up or down the Gulf, or from shore to shore ; he 

 also told me that the people on the Magdalene Islands told him 

 that a good many small black [dark coloured ?] Seals whelp near 

 there, and that their young take to the water as soon as born. 

 From what he heard, he believes that about 13,000 western Harps 

 were taken by the people on the Magdalene and Byron Islands, 

 and that many Seals were crushed by the ice rafting on these 

 islands." 



The total number of Seals taken by the fleet of eighteen 

 steamers, of the aggregate capacity of 5595 tons, and manned by 

 3802 seamen, was 241,708, of a net value of about ^80,000, as 

 compared with 126,628, valued at £32,564, in the previous 

 season ; to these must be added some 30,000 taken by the 

 sailing vessels and by the shore fishermen — a very considerable 

 improvement on the last two years. 



The ' Aurora ' again headed the list with 25,633, closely 

 followed by the ' Neptune ' with 25,503. There were five others 

 which secured more than 15,000 each, and another five had more 

 than 10,000 each ; the remaining six averaged 5088 each. The 

 most unfortunate were the * Kite ' and the ' Harlaw ' (1235 and 

 778 respectively) which went in search of the western Harps in 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence. No Dundee vessels were present at 

 the Newfoundland sealing. 



In my last year's notes (p. 77), I mentioned that a company 

 called the " Cabot Whale Fishery Company " had been formed at 

 St. John's to prosecute the Fin- Whale fishery off the coast of 

 Newfoundland after the Norwegian fashion. This fishery has 

 been carried on from Snook's Arm (near Cape John in Notre 

 Dame Bay). The season closed early in November, and ninety- 

 two Whales were captured by the ' Cabot,' the only vessel at 

 present employed. Only the blubber and baleen are at present 



