SOUTHERN* AFRICA. 325 
With these alone they caught as many whales as they could 
wish for ; fiHing, in a short space of time, all their casks and 
cisterns with oil. Having gone thus far they perceived that, 
although whale-oil was to.be procured to almost any amount 
at a small expence, they were still likely to be considerable 
losers by the concern. The consumption of the colony in 
this article was trifling ; they had no ships of their own to 
send it to Europe, nor casks to put on board others on freight. 
Their oil, therefore, continued to lie as a dead stock in their 
cisterns, till the high premium of bills on England induced - 
some of the British merchants to purchase and make their 
remittances in this article. The price at the Cape Avas about 
40 rixdollars the legger, or tenpence sterling per gallon. 
Sometimes, indeed, ships from the Southern Whale Fishery 
took a few casks to complete their cargoes, but, in general, 
they preferred to be at the trouble of taking the fish them- 
selves, in or near some of the bays within the limits of the 
colony, where they are so plentiful and so easily caught, as 
to ensure their success. It is remarked that all the whales 
which have been caught in the bays are females ; of a small 
size, generally from 30 to 50 feet in length, and yielding from 
six to ten tons of oil each. The bone is very small, and, oft 
that account, of no great value. 
The Whale Fishing Company, finding there was httle pro- 
bability of their disposing of the oil without a loss, thought 
of the experiment of converting it into soap. The great 
quantity of sea- weed, the fuciis maximiis, or buccinalis, so 
called from its resemblance to a trumpet, which grows on the 
western shore of Table Bay, suggested itself as an abundant 
