48 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. III. 
stations there and at other places on the coast by means 
of agents. They paid nominally 10/. per ton for the 
oil, and 60/. per ton for the bone, finding casks and 
freight themselves. The wages of the whalers, how- 
ever, were paid in slops, spirits, and tobacco, at an ex- 
orbitant profit. A pound of tobacco, worth I*. Sd. in 
Sydney, was valued at 55. and sometimes 7*. 6d. here, 
and other things in the same proportion. The men, 
a mixture of runaway sailors and escaped convicts, sign 
an agreement at the beginning of the season, in which 
these prices are stated, so that they cannot go elsewhere 
to work, and must submit to these terms. The season 
lasts from the first of May to the beginning of Octo- 
l^er. In these five months, a whaler can earn 35/. if 
the season be good ; but all depends on the success of 
the fishery ; as, if there were no whales caught, there 
would be no pay, and the only wages consist in a share 
of the produce. 
The consequence is a great number of bad debts in a 
bad season, and these fall on the agent or head of the 
party. If he does not advance the men what goods 
they want, they refuse to work ; and sometimes have 
no means of paying their account at the end of the 
season. 
The artisans seemed to be the best off. Carpenters 
and blacksmiths get 10*. a day, and insist upon pay- 
ment in money. Williams had amassed a good deal in 
this way, and having laid it out in purchasing goods of 
all sorts from whale-ships, he drove a good trade on 
shore, knowing whom to trust. 
We were told that the different whaling parties on 
both shores of Cook's Strait, near Banks's Peninsula, 
and still further south, were reckoned to procure 1200 
tons of oil annually, and that about 500 White men 
were employed in the pursuit. : 
