CETACEAN STUDIES IN EUROPE 



By REMINGTON KELLOGG 



Assistant Curator, Division of Mammals, U. S. National Museum 



Late in the evening of May 12, 1938, the S. S. Washington of the 

 United States Lines landed Mrs. Kellogg, Commander Wilfrid N. 

 Derby, and me at Hamburg, Germany, after an interesting trip up 

 the Elb River. The next morning, we were on the train bound for 

 Sassnitz Hafen, where a small Baltic Sea steamer took us to Trelle- 

 borg, Sweden. Arriving at that port in the evening, we boarded the 

 train which brought us to Oslo, Norway, on the morning of May 14. 

 Having a few days at our disposal, we visited the Norsk Folkemuseum 

 at Bygdoy. Many old buildings, brought from various parts of Nor- 

 way, have been reassembled here and furnished with the handicraft, 

 furniture, implements, and arts of the Norwegian people during the 

 corresponding period. Here also, ancient Viking boats are exhibited 

 in a large hall. Their amazingly well preserved contents, including 

 among other things a wooden wagon, an elaborately carved bed, chests, 

 sled, buckets, and other implements are displayed at the University 

 Museum. The "Vi Kan" Exposition in Oslo had an exhibit of some of 

 the apparatus used in modern whaling, which attracted many of the 

 visitors. A day or so later, we were shown through the Institute for 

 Whale Research at the University of Oslo by Prof. Johan Hjort. 

 At Oslo, also, the youth parades and demonstrations on May 17, the 

 Norwegian National Day marking the anniversary of the adoption 

 of the constitution after the separation from Denmark in 1914, was 

 a very gay occasion for visitors and residents alike. The visit to the 

 well-known Norwegian whaling port, Sandef jord, arranged by the 

 Norwegian Whaling Association, proved most interesting. Here we 

 inspected some of the modern floating factory ships and a number of 

 recent improvements in apparatus used in whaling operations, includ- 

 ing the electric harpoon. At Sandef jord is located the Kommando'r 

 Chr. Christensen Hvalfangstmuseum, where there is on display, along 

 with several kinds of whale skeletons, two huge iron oil-boiling pots 

 left more than a hundred years ago by an American whaler on the 

 Falkland Islands, many ancient types of harpoons, and other whaling 

 accessories. 



From Oslo, we took the train on May 29 for Stockholm, Sweden. 

 There, through the courtesy of Count Nils Gyldenstolpe and Prof. 



4 41 



