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THE COMMERCIAL VALUE OF THE WHITE PORPOISE OF 



THE ST. LAWRENCE. 



The animal generally termed the porpoise is a species of whale — the 

 northern beluga {Beluga catodon) of Gray. Although occasionally seen in 

 the Bay of Chaleur and parts of New Brunswick, it is chiefly in the river 

 St. Lawrence that it is common. This cetaceous animal, formerly so abun- 

 dant in the St. Lawrence, became, after the discovery of Canada, an article 

 of commerce which entitled the first colonists, who engaged in catching it, 

 to a special protection on the part of the French Government. 



In 1707 there were no less than eight companies, established at different 

 points of the river, for carrying on this business, whom the Intendants pro- 

 tected by their edicts and ordinances ; and their number, at this period, 

 would alone be sufficient to prove the importance which this fishery might 

 acquire. The oil of the porpoise was then worth only a franc a gallon, its 

 skin was somehow considered of little value, but the facility with which it 

 was taken was so great, that the quantity alone sufficed to make it sought 

 after, and to render the pursuit profitable to those engaged in it, amongst 

 whom a company of six habitans, at Riviere Ouelle Point, was particularly 

 distinguished. 



During the year 1710 this company took 800 porpoises. Some years 

 later it killed thousands, but the numbers gradually diminished every year ; 

 and, whether from the more frequent navigation of the river proving a 

 cause of alarm to this valuable fish, or from some of those hidden causes 

 which the depths of ocean veil from us, they ceased to live together in large 

 shoals, and dispersed into all parts of the river. It cannot, however, be 

 said that they are now less numerous in the St. Lawrence than heretofore ; 

 on the contrary, their number is much greater, and their species belongs 

 exclusively to this river. It is in a manner the king, as it is also the largest 

 and most profitable of those which live permanently in the North American 

 waters. 



This animal was formerly taken in enclosures, made of light and flexible 

 poles fixed in the beach, within which the porpoise pursued the small mem- 

 bers of the finny tribe during high tide, and where, when once his appetite 

 was sated, he became heavy and almost asleep from gluttony, and seemed 

 to forget, during several hours, the dangers which surrounded him as the 

 tide went out. The fisherman, silent and on the look out upon the cliff 

 having seen that the waves had retreated, and were now breaking upon the 

 rocks outside the enclosure, gave the signal; two or three light skiffs (either 

 bark or wooden canoes), manned by three or four expert rowers, appeared 

 upon the waves, which they scarcely touched with their oars. Standing 

 in the bow of each of these canoes a man, with bare and muscular arm, a 

 steel spear in hand, intently followed with his eye the track of the fish, 

 indicating the course to be Igken, whether to the right or left, and struck 



