NOTES ON THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY. 25 



Whales. 



In glancing at the reports of the Whale-fishery in past years 

 one cannot help contrasting them with those of the present time, 

 and being struck with the changes which have taken place in the 

 nature of the produce brought home from the Arctic Seas. Years 

 ago the Black Whale was par excellence the object of the whale- 

 man's quest, supplemented only by such White Whales, Seals, 

 and Walruses as could be conveniently secured without neglecting 

 the main object of pursuit ; but as these valuable animals grew 

 scarcer, smaller game engaged their attention, and Seals bulked 

 largely in the returns, being sought for on the west ice north of 

 Jan Mayen in the months of March and April before the vessels 

 went north in search of Whales off Spitzbergen. In time this 

 sealing became unprofitable, and about the year 1880 the 

 Bottlenose fishery came to the front, reaching its culminating 

 point in 1883, when 535 of these Whales were killed by the 

 Greenland vessels ; the next year (1884) the number was 317, 

 and after that date they fell off rapidly, this branch of the 

 industry, like the Seal fishery, being abandoned to the Scandi- 

 navians, whose methods are more economical than ours, and 

 who probably still find it profitable. Then the Bight Whale 

 failed in the Greenland Seas, where it had once been so abundant, 

 and in the year 1894, for the first time since 1788, the port of 

 Peterhead was unrepresented in this ancient industry ; in 1901 

 even the Dundee vessels forsook these seas, and confined their 

 operations to Davis Strait, where this is the only British port 

 represented. But still other changes have crept in ; stations 

 have been established on the shore in likely quarters, and win- 

 tering parties left to collect produce by barter with the natives or 

 otherwise, which is taken on board by the whalers or brought 

 home by carriers ; and, lastly, the waters of Hudson Strait and 

 the adjoining channels have been invaded, so that the whaler's 

 cargo is of a very miscellaneous character, reminding one more 

 of a Hudson Bay Company's fur ship than of an old-fashioned 

 whaler's, comprising even minerals such as mica and plumbago. 



Five vessels from Dundee have been actually engaged in the 

 Whale fishery in the past season, four in Davis Strait and one 

 in Hudson Strait, in addition to which the ' Queen Bess ' 

 (72 tons) brought home produce from Hudson Strait, where she 



