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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



A MODERN WHALER IN PORT 

 The crew are practicing by shooting at a floating target 



in Europe and America has but little 

 value. In Japan, however, it is made 

 into many useful and beautiful things. 



This, with the exception of minor de- 

 tails, is the method of handling whales 

 which the Norwegians developed after 

 years of experimenting, and which is 

 followed in almost all other parts of the 

 globe except Japan. 



THE JAPANESE WPIAEE FISHERIES 



In the Island Empire shore-whaling as 

 a great industry has developed during 

 the last 15 years, but nowhere else in 

 the world are the by-products so per- 

 fectly utilized. The Japanese have not 

 only extracted the best from the Euro- 

 pean methods of preparing whales and 

 adapted it to their peculiar needs, but 

 have also added much from their own 

 experience which whalemen of other na- 

 tions would do well to recognize. 



The Japanese stations are usually situ- 



ated in or near one of the little fishing 

 villages which dot the islands in every 

 bay or harbor. In some instances the 

 whales are drawn out of the water upon 

 a slip in the manner learned from the 

 Norwegians, but the more usual way of 

 cutting in is a method of their own adop- 

 tion. 



At the end of a wharf extending into 

 deep water a pair of long, heavy poles 

 are erected, inclined forward, and joined 

 at their extremities by a massive cross- 

 piece. From this the great blocks, 

 through which run the wire cables of 

 the winch, are suspended. 



The first whale which I saw cut in by 

 the Japanese was an enormous sulphur- 

 bottom, 80 feet in length. I had been 

 at sea for several days on one of the 

 ships, and as we swung into the bay 

 from the open ocean, the whistle echoing 

 among the hills gave warning of our 

 coming. The little vessel, towing a car- 



