THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY. 101 



migration, and the localities where they will be found at certain 

 periods of the year are as well known now as in Scoresby's time ; 

 nor are they on the point of extermination, as supposed by some, 

 for during the past season a considerable number of Whales were 

 seen in their old haunts in the Greenland Seas. The want of 

 success is, I believe, mainly owing to the introduction of steam, 

 which enables the modern ships to follow the Whales in localities 

 where formerly they would have been safe from molestation ; the 

 rattle of the screw also, which can be heard by the Whales for long 

 distances, is now to them a well-known sound; above all, the eager- 

 ness with which they are followed up — all the vessels consorting 

 together — has at length rendered them so wild as to be practically 

 unapproachable. Even now, however, it appears quite possible that 

 a vessel approaching their haunts alone, and in the quiet manner 

 which prevailed before the introduction of steam, might be 

 rewarded by the success of old. Certainly the fishery appears 

 to be in a hopeless condition at present in the old Greenland 

 haunts; but it is possible that a few years' rest might restore the 

 confidence of the Whales, and that, if then pursued with due 

 caution by a limited number of vessels, paying cargoes might 

 again be made. The same applies with equal force to the Davis 

 Straits Fishery. 



Most of my readers have doubtless seen the Brothers 

 Gray's pamphlet on the possibility of transferring the pursuit of 

 the Whalebone Whale from the ice of the Northern Hemisphere 

 to that of the Southern. It is a bold suggestion, and shows that 

 the spirit of the Elizabethan mariners still animates their 

 Victorian successors, and, if successful, one more cutting from 

 the industrial parent tree will be engrafted on the Greater Britain 

 at the Antipodes — let us hope to flourish with all the vigour 

 which the lusty young ^tock can impart to it. I am informed 

 that sufficient support has already been received to fit out one 

 vessel, and that it is hoped a second will accompany her ; it 

 therefore seems probable that, under a new Commander, the 

 * Eclipse,' which has so long taken the lead in the Greenland 

 Fishery, will be the pioneer in a new enterprise in the distant 

 waters of the Southern Hemisphere. 



The past season at the Newfoundland Sealing has proved a 

 very successful one, the total catch by the nineteen British 

 vessels present amounting to 343,495 Seals against 209,000 in 



