84 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



ground somewhat to the north-east of Scoresby's Sound, Mr. 

 Robert Gray tells me that between June 12th and July 18th their 

 ship never once dipped to the swell of the ocean, and that from 

 July 11th to the 18th they bored their way through the ice fully 

 200 miles as the crow flies. Many Whales were seen both at the 

 north and south fishing-grounds, but they were shy and difficult 

 of approach, and the 'Eclipse' succeeded in killing only four. 

 They also shot ten Bottle-nose Whales, some very interesting 

 notes on which I trust Mr. Gray may find time to communicate 

 to ■ The Zoologist.' 



In addition to the Seals and Whales nineteen Bottle-noses 

 were killed, yielding 19 tons of oil. The pursuit of this animal 

 is left almost entirely to the Norwegians. Mr. Gray was informed 

 by the captain of one of their vessels that in 1888 they had a fleet 

 of thirty, mostly schooners, employed in their fishery, and that 

 they had killed in that season about 1100 Bottle-noses. Most of 

 these Whales are shot off the ship (especially in the case of 

 schooners), the guns being mounted two aft on the rail, two 

 forward, also on the rail, and sometimes one on the jib-boom end. 

 They sail at very small cost, and of course our expensively 

 equipped vessels, with better-fed and paid crews, cannot compete 

 with them in this industry. Some of these vessels also attend 

 what is known as the White Sea Sealing, which is prosecuted on 

 the ice off Sviatoi Nos, only old Seals being killed there. 



The total produce of the Scotch whaling voyage was 323j 

 tons of Whale-oil and 16 tons 6 cwt. of bone from twenty-seven 

 Whales ; and 19 tons of Bottlenose-oil from nineteen of these 

 animals. The Whale-oil at £20 per ton, and the Bottlenose-oil 

 at £30 per ton represents a sum of £7040. 



It is difficult to state, even approximately, the amount realised 

 by the owners from the sale of their whalebone ; had they held 

 it till the end of the year, it would have been worth £2500 per 

 ton, if six feet long or over; but probably the bulk of the " size" 

 bone was sold out at £1600 or £1700 per ton, — say £1650,— at 

 which price, deducting 17 per cent, of the total weight for under- 

 size bone, — worth only half-price, — it would produce about 

 £24,600, together with the oil making a total of £31,600, against 

 £12,808 in 1888. The present very high price of whalebone is 

 likely to impart a very considerable stimulus to the Whale 

 Fishery in the coming season. 



