SHORE-WHALING: A WORLD INDUSTRY 



425 



TOWING THK INFLATED WHALE TO THE FACTORY 



time, for the meat and blubber must be 

 hurried on board fast transports and 

 sent to the nearest city, to be sold in the 

 markets and peddled from house to 

 house. 



WHALE MEAT IS VERY POPULAR IN JAPAN 



Few people realize the great part 

 which whale meat plays in the life of 

 the ordinary Japanese. Too poor to buy 

 beef, their diet would include little but 

 rice, fish, and vegetables were it net for 

 the great supply of flesh and blubber 

 furnished by these huge water mammals. 

 In winter the meat of the humpback 

 whale, which is most highly esteemed, 

 sometimes brings as much as 30 sen (15 

 cents) per pound; but this is unusual. 

 Ordinarily it can be bought for 15 sen 

 or less. But the edible portions are not 

 only the flesh and blubber. Certain 

 parts of the viscera are prepared for 



human consumption, and what remains 

 is first tried out to extract the oil, then 

 chipped by girls using hand-knives, and 

 dried in the sun for fertilizer. 



Whale meat is very coarse grained and 

 tastes something like venison, but has a 

 flavor peculiarly its own. I have eaten 

 it for many days in succession, and 

 found it not only palatable but healthful. 

 The Japanese prepare it in a variety of 

 ways, but perhaps it is most frequently 

 chopped finely, mixed with vegetables, 

 and eaten raw, dressed with a brown 

 sauce. 



In the summer, when it is impossible 

 to ship the meat to any distance because 

 of the heat, much of it is canned. The 

 flesh is cooked in great kettles, and the 

 cans made, packed, and labeled at the 

 stations. On my desk as I write is a 

 tin of whale meat which I brought from 

 Aikawa, where hundreds of pounds were 



