486 
CURRENTS AND WHALING. 
tracted from the ocean by hard toil, exposure, and danger. The 
estimated quantity of oil imported into the United States is about four 
hundred thousand barrels, nearly one-half of which is sperm oil. 
It might be said that the employment of so large a number of 
persons is not constant, because many of the vessels are always to be 
found in our harbours. But it is well known that the same number 
of hands are employed in port as at sea; and I believe, from my own 
observation, and the statements of others, that so far from falling 
below the estimate, the number of persons actually engaged in this 
business would greatly exceed the registry of the crews, as our ships 
are constantly in the practice of taking on board extra hands from 
the Azores, Cape de Verdes, and South Sea islands, which would 
probably amount to an eighth or a tenth more. 
The number of those on shore to whom this branch of business 
gives employment, will readily be admitted to be twice as great as 
that of the crews. When we add to this profitable occupation of so 
many persons, the value of the domestic products consumed by them, 
and the benefit that is thus conferred upon both our agricultural and 
manufacturing interests, the importance of this branch of business will 
appear greatly enhanced. 
By a large majority of persons, it is believed that the whale-fishery 
is a mere lottery, in which success is more owing to good luck than 
to good management. Those, however, who entertain such an opinion, 
are in error. There is, perhaps, no employment on the ocean wherein 
a sound judgment is more necessary, and no business where success 
depends more upon the experience, enterprise, and industry, of the 
commander, than in that of whaling. 
Voyages may indeed be made by incompetent persons, and by 
fortuitous circumstances success may be obtained; but those who 
are well acquainted with the business, will almost certainly “ fill up” in 
the time allotted to a voyage, and frequently in a much shorter period. 
There are two kinds of whales that are principally the object of 
search by our whalers. These are the sperm whale (Macrocephalus) 
and the right whale (Mysticetus). These two animals differ exceed¬ 
ingly, both in their form and in their habits. The first is furnished 
with teeth, the last with a collection of laminas; they are therefore 
adapted to different kinds of food: the former feeds on the large 
medusae of the ocean, termed by the whalers squid; the other on 
small Crustacea, and small fish. Their feeding-grounds are seldom 
in the same places; for, while the latter frequents the coasts and bays, 
the former is seldom found except in the deep sea, and generally far 
from the land. 
