18 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



use them when they can get them. They are used in government light- 

 houses for the clocks of revolving lights. The color of the oils is very 

 light, and can be made very white by placing in the window, where 

 they will bleach in a short time. One drop of water in one pint of the 

 oil will injure it very much. 



It may be interesting to know how those fish or whales are taken. 

 They make their appearance about the shores of Cape God and Barn- 

 stable Bay from early in the summer until early in winter; and when it 

 becomes known that a shoal of blackfish is in the bay, the boats are 

 manned and proceed at once to get in their rear; and, as the fish are at 

 the surface of the water the most of the time, it is easy to tell how to 

 manage to keep them between the boats and the shore. While in this 

 position the men in the boats will make all the noise with their oars 

 they can, and that will cause them to go in the opposite direction from 

 the boats and toward the shore ; and when the fish find that they are 

 in shoal water, by seeing the sandy bottom, they become alarmed, and 

 go with all their might till they run fast aground on the sand. The 

 boats then row in their midst; the men with lance in hand jump out of 

 their boats into the water, and butcher them as a butcher would a hog, 

 and it becomes one of the most exciting occasions that it is possible to 

 imagine, for the water flies in every direction, and the blood flows freely 

 until death puts an end to the great tragedy. When the water ebbs and 

 leaves them dry, their blubber is taken off, cut in slices, and the oil 

 tried out. About thirty gallons upon an average is what one fish will 

 make, and the melons will average about six quarts. The melons are 

 taken from the top of the head, reaching from the spout-hole to the end 

 of the nose, and from the top of the head down to the upper jaw. When 

 taken off in one piece, they represent a half watermelon, weighing about 

 twenty-five pounds. When the knife is put into the centre of this melon, 

 the oil runs more freely than the water does from a very nice water- 

 melon — hence the name melon oil. 



About the same time that the blackfish made their appearance in our 

 waters, another of the whale species made its appearance also, called 

 by the fishermen "cowfish" and by the historian "grampus". These 

 whales are very much in the shape of the blackfish, only smaller, not 

 so fat, and not so dark-colored. The oil from the melon of this fish 

 is thought to be superior to anything yet found in the blackfish or the 

 porpoise. It is of a very yellow color, and when reduced by the chill- 

 ing and straining process it appears to have all the body and lubricating 

 properties that are wanted for the very best watch-oil; but as it will 

 take one year to determine it by practical experiments, it is thought 

 best to keep it out of the market for the present. 



This fish has made its appearance in our waters but three or four 

 times in the last forty years, or about once in ten years. The method 

 of taking it is the same as for the blackfish. 



