Clas IV. COMMON WHALE. 39 
Fynnes, part of the cargo of two great Bifkaine fhips 
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. 4n- 
derfon obferves in his Dictionary of Commerce *, it 
being certain that the whale fifhery was carried on, 
for the fake of the oil, long before the difcovery of 
the ufe of whalebone. 
The great refort of thefe animals was found to be 
on the inhofpitable fhores of Spitzbergen, and the 
European fhips made that place their principal fifhery, 
and for numbers of years were very fuccefsful : the 
Englife commenced that bufinefs about the year 
1598, andthe town of Hull had the honor of firft 
attempting that profitable branch of trade. At 
prefent it feems to be on the decline, the quantity of 
fith being greatly reduced by the conftant capture 
for fuch a vaft length of time: fome recent ac- 
counts inform us, that the fifhers, from a defe& of 
whales, apply themfelves to the feal fithery, from 
which animals they extract an oil. This we fear 
will not be of any long continuance ; for thefe fhy 
and timid creatures will foon be induced to quit 
thofe fhores by being perpetually harraffed, as the 
morfe or walrus has already in a great meafure done. 
We are alfo told, that the poor natives of Green- 
land begin even now to fuffer from the decreafe of 
the feal in their feas, it being their principal fubfift- 
ence ; fo that fhould it totally defert the coaft, the 
whole nation would be in danger of perifhing thro’ 
want. 
* Vol. I. 442. 
D In 
