COMMON WHALE. Class IV. 



rant of it, being obliged to fend to Bijkaie for men 

 jkilful in the catching of the whale^ and ordering of the 

 oil., and one cooper jkiiful to fet up the fiaved cajk *. 

 This feems very ftrange ; for by the account 

 05fher gave of his travels to King Alfred, near 

 700 years -f- before that period, it is evident that 

 he made that monarch acquainted with the Nor- 

 wegians pradlifing the whale-fiiliery ; but it feems 

 all memory of that gainful employ, as well as of 

 that able voyager Ocfher, and all his important 

 difcoveries in the North were loft ibr near feven 

 centuries. 



It was carried on by the Bifcayeners long before 

 we attempted the trade, and that for the fake not 

 only of the oil, but alfo of the whalebone, which 

 they feem to have long trafficked in. The 

 earlieft notice we find of that article in our trade 

 is by Hackluyt j:, who fays it was brought from the 

 Bay of St, Laurence by an Englifh (hip that went 

 there for the harhes and fynnes of whales and train 

 oil, A. D. 1594, and who found there feven or 

 eight hundred 'u;hale fynnes, part of the cargo of 

 two great Bijkaine fnips, that had been wrecked 

 there three years before. Previous to that, the 

 ladies ftays muft have been made of fplit cane, or 

 fome tough wood, as Mr. Anderfon obferves in his 



* Hackluyt* s Col. 'voy» I, 414. 

 f Idem, 1. 4. 

 X Idem, III. 194, 



Di6lionary 



