WHALE FISHERY. 
XXV 
spirit as in the South Sea Fishery. The local 
situation of Port Jackson gives them an advan- 
tage over the English and the American mer- 
chants, since the distance of both these from the 
field of their gains, must necessarily impede them 
greatly ; whereas the ships that leave Sydney 
on a whaling excursion, arrive without loss of 
time upon their ground, and return either for 
fresh supplies or to repair damages with equal 
facility. The spirit with which the colonial 
youth have engaged in this adventurous and 
hardy service, is highly to their credit. The 
profits arising from it may not be (indeed I have 
every reason to think are not) so great as might 
be supposed, or such as might reasonably be 
expected ; but the extensive scale on which it 
is conducted, speaks equally for the energy and 
perseverance of the parties concerned, in the 
prosecution of their commercial enterprises. 
It has enabled them to equip a creditable co- 
lonial marine, and given great importance to their 
mercantile interests in the mother country. 
In the year 1831, the quantity of sperm and 
black oil, the produce of the fisheries exported 
from New South Wales, amounted to 2307 tons, 
VOL. I, j, 
