Oils from Marine Mammals, 205 



necessary to enter into any lengthened detail here of the 

 prosecution of this fishery, which has largely declined, 

 having been much abandoned, as compared with former 

 years, both by the English and Americans. The French 

 have given it up altogether. 



A quarter of a century ago, 730 ships, registering 

 233,189 tons, were employed in the American whale fishery ; 

 now there are less than 170 vessels, registering 40,000 tons, 

 employed in whaling. 



The extensive use of gas, as well as the employment 

 of mineral and vegetable oils, for illuminating purposes, 

 has in a great degree superseded the demand for whale oil 

 that existed half a century ago. Our annual average im- 

 ports of train oil, it will be seen, keep pretty steady. 



Imports into the United Kingdom.. 





Train oil 



or blubber. 



Spermaceti 



or head matter. 





Tuns. 



Value. 



-Tuns. 



Value. 



1867 



11,901 



;^478,723 



3226 



^373,367 



1868 



11,203 



415,400 



1945 



185,960 



1869 



10,146 



399,536 



4107 



387,171 



1870 



14,721 



549,213 



4069 



341,340 



I87I 



19,291 



636, 70b 



5388 



451,028 



1872 





522,056 



3715 



333,534 



1873 



15,069 



514,493 



2817 



252,434 



1874 



13,896 



454,729 



3155 



296,630 



1875 



14,890 



489,817 



4469 



427,884 



1876 



1 3,- 466 



445,262 



3218 



230,359 



The blubber on a fat whale is sometimes, in its thickest 

 parts, from 15 to 20 inches thick, though usually not more 

 than a foot ; it is of a coarse texture, and much harder 

 than pork. So very full of oil is it, that a cask closely 

 packed with the clean raw fat of the whale will not contain 

 the oil boiled from it and the scraps that are left besides. 



