Coast. I have myself killed many of them. Their Females have abundance of Milk, which their young ones suck out of the Teats, that grow by their Navell. They have no Teeth, but feed on Mosse, growing on the Rocks at the bottom during these three Moneths, and at no other season of the Year. When that is consumed and gone, the Whales go away also. These we kill for their Oyl. But here have been Sperma-Ceti-Whales driven upon the shore, which Sperma (as they call it) lies all over the Body of those Whales. These have divers Teeth, which may be about as big as a Man's wrist; and I hope by the next opportunity to send you one of them. I have been at the Bahama-Islands, and there have been found of this same sort of Whales dead on the shore, with Sperma all over their Bodies. Myself with about 20 more have agreed to try, whether we can master and kill them, for I could never hear of any of that sort, that were kill'd by any man; such is their fierceness and swiftness. One such Whale would be worth many hundred pounds. They are very strong, and inlay'd with sinews all over their Body, which may be drawn out thirty fathom long." i

There are various statements regarding this fishery in the colonial records of the Bermudas, a large body of which was published in convenient form by Sir J. H. Lefroy in 1879. These include the papers of Norwood and Stafford already quoted, but are chiefly orders of the proprietors of the islands to the successive governors concerning the regulation of the fishery, reports of the governors to the proprietors, and various proclamations and court decisions relating to the conduct of the industry. In these papers references are occasionally made to the seasons in which the whales appear at the islands, and some other allusions to their habits, but very little is said regarding the whales themselves.

While many complaints were made by the proprietors in London that whale oil was not sent them as it should have been, whalebone is seldom referred to. It is usually mentioned as something which might be expected to form a valuable product of the industry, but never as a product actually in hand. From this it would appear that to the close of the 17th century at least, the Right whale was not taken at the islands, for it is not probable that the valuable whalebone of that species would have been ignored.

66

We hear nothing of the Bermuda Hump back fishery again for a very long time. Mr. J. Matthew Jones, of Nova Scotia, stated in 1884, that it was prosecuted by the islanders with more or less success from the earliest times until the present. He seems to be of the opinion, however, that the Right whale was the species sought for, but there is very good reason to believe that the statements of Norwood and Stafford, in 1667 and 1668, relate to the same whale as that mentioned in the anonymous accounts of 1665, and the latter was undoubtedly the Humpback. Later, the Right whale may have been captured, as it was on the coast of New England, and it is possible that at a comparatively early date attention

'STAFFORD, RICHARD, An Extract of a Letter, written to the Publisher from the Bermudas by Mr. Richard Stafford; concerning the Tydes there, as also whales, Sperma Ceti, (etc.). Bermuda, July 16, 1668. Philos. Trans., 3, No. 40, 1668, pp. 792-794.

'LEFROY, J. H., Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of the Bermudas or Somers Islands, 1511-1687. 2 vols., London, 1877-79.

'Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 25, 1884, p. 148.

was transferred largely, if not wholly, from the Humpback to the Right whale, but of this there is no evidence.

In 1902 Professor A. E. Verrill published a brief statement regarding whales at Bermuda, citing the early records and adding a few data of recent date. The baleen whales which he includes as having been seen or captured about the islands are a Humpback, a Finback, and a Right whale.'

WEST INDIES.

Two comparatively early explorers of the West Indies, Rochefort (1658) and Du Tetre (1667), have some little to say regarding the cetaceans of those waters. Rochefort in his History of the Antilles, after mentioning the marine monsters found in those parts, and describing two species of Marsouins or porpoises, has an article on "whales and other monsters of the sea," from which the following:

"Those who travel about these islands sometimes see whales in their journey. ings, which throw up water from their blowhole to the height of a pike, and which only show ordinarily a little of their back, which resembles a rock above

water.

'Ships are also sometimes accompanied for quite a long time by monsters which are of the length and breadth of a boat (chalouppe), and which seem to find pleasure in thus showing themselves. The sailors call them Morhous or Souffleurs (puffers), because that from time to time these prodigious fish put a part of their head out of water, to take breath, and then they blow and scatter the water from in front of their pointed snouts. Some say that it is a species of large porpoise."

These whales would appear to be Finbacks, though it is possible, of course, that the reference is to some species of ziphioid whale, perhaps Ziphius cav irostris, or that various kinds of whales are confounded.

Du Tetre in his General History of the Antilles (1667-71) speaks first of the "great number of whales, of puffers (Souffleurs) and of porpoises" about Martinique and then devotes a section of his work to whales. In this section he throws some light on the Souffleur, but hardly enough to make it certain what it really is. The matter is as follows:

Whales are seen about these islands [Antilles] from the month of March to the end of May more frequently than in all the rest of the year. They are in heat and copulate at this time, and one sees them roaming about principally in the morning, all along the coast, two, three or four, all in a school, blowing and as if syringing from their nostrils two little rivers of water, which they blow into the air to the height of two pikes, and in this effort they make a kind of bellowing (meuglement) which may be heard for a good quarter of a league. When two males meet near one of the females they join battle and give themselves over to a danger ous combat, striking the sea so hard with their fins and tail that it seems as if they were two ships engaged with cannon.”3

2

'VERRILL, A. E., The Bermuda Islands. Trans. Conn. Acad., 11, 1902, pp. 682–688.

ROCHEFORT, C. DE, Hist. Nat. et Morale des Isles Antilles, 1st ed., 1658, p. 179.

'DU TETRE, J. B., Hist. Gén. des Antilles, Tom. 2, Traité 4, "Des Poissons," 1667, p. 196.

Then follows a paragraph as to the size being exaggerated by René François, and then the story of the Florida Indians from Acosta, after which comes an account of an accident caused by a whale getting under a boat near Martinique. A little farther on the following important passages occur:

"One sees more whales around Martinique than at Guadaloupe, because the sea there is more channeled and deeper, from which it arises that they can frequent these shores with less danger than those of Guadaloupe, which are less steep, and where there are more keys and shallows, where they might more easily strand and perish.

"Of Souffleurs.-The Souffleur is a large fish, which one might with much reason consider a species of whale, supposing that one might employ the word whale in a generic sense; for it has so much resemblance to that animal that it differs from it only in size; it blows and syringes the water into the air through its nostrils, like the whale, although a much smaller quantity, so that many take them for small whale cubs, though it may be an entirely different kind of fish. They go in schools like the porpoises, and it is only necessary to whistle to make them turn suddenly and approach the ships, but it is not all play to capture them, for they are endowed with a force so extraordinary, that a captain of a ship assured me that one day having harpooned one, it made such a violent strain on the line attached to the harpoon that it broke the large yard of his mast where this line was fastened. They are in great numbers on all these coasts; it seems as if they had a liking for men, for they follow the canoes and boats, as though it gave them pleasure to hear the noise that is made." 1

PACIFIC COAST.

The earliest reference to whales on the west coast of North America which I have found is in Oviedo's chapter "on the whales which are in the seas of the islands and mainland of the Indies," in Ramusio's Voyages. This relates to an incident which occurred in the year 1529, a very early date, earlier indeed than that of the incident mentioned by Cartier as occurring in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to which reference has already been made (p. 14).

Oviedo's account is as follows:

"I will relate what I myself with many others saw in the mouth of the Gulf of Orotigna, which is 200 leagues distant from the town of Panama toward the West. In 1529, going out of the Gulf into the open sea, to go to the town of Panama, we saw at the mouth of the Gulf a fish or marine animal extremely large, and which from time to time raised itself straight out of the water. And that which was to be seen above the water, which was only the head and two arms, was considerably higher than our caravel with all its masts. And being elevated in that way it let itself fall and struck the water violently, and then after a little time returned to repeat the act, but not, however, throwing up any water from the mouth, although in falling down with the blow and the fall it made much water rise up into the air. And a cub of this animal, or one like it but much smaller, did the same, deviating always somewhat from the larger one. And from what the sailors and others who were in the caravel said they judged it to be a whale, and the smaller a whale's cub. The arms which they showed were very large, and 'DU TETRE, J. B., Hist. Gén. des Antilles, 2, 1667, pp. 196-197.

1

some have said that the whale has no arms. But the one which I saw, was of the manner I have said, for I went with the others in the caravel, where came also Father Lorenzo Martino, canon of the church of Castiglia dell' Oro; and the pilot was John Cabezas; and with us came also a gentleman named Sancio di Tudela, with many others, who are alive and can testify the same thing, because I would never wish to speak of such things without witnesses. By estimate, and as it seemed to me, each arm of this animal might be 25 feet long and as thick as a barrel and the head more than 14 or 15 feet long, and very much thicker and the rest of the body more than as much again.

"It raised itself up and that which it showed in height was more than five times the height of a middle-sized man, which makes 25 feet. And the fear was not a little that all had when with its leaps it came alongside our vessel, because our caravel was small. And from what we could surmise it seemed that this animal felt pleasure, and made holiday of the weather which was approaching; for soon there arose in the sea a strong west wind, which was much to our advantage, for sailing along in a few days we reached the town of Panama." 1

From the size and shape of this whale and especially from the length of its pectoral fins and its manner of putting its head out of water, there is strong probability that it was a Humpback whale.

In 1539 Francis Ulloa cruised along the Pacific coast of Central America, penetrated the Gulf of California, and passing out of it again proceeded to Cerros Island. In his passage around Cape St. Lucas he encountered a large school of whales, which he refers to as follows:

Before we came to this point of the haven of Santa Cruz [in the Gulf of California] by six or seven leagues, we saw on the shore between certain valleys divers great smokes. And having passed the point of this port our Captain thought it good to launch forth into the maine ocean, yet although we ran a swift course, about 500 whales came athwart of us in 2 or 3 skulles [schools] within one houre's space, which were so huge, as it was wonderful, and some of them came so neere unto the ship, that they swam under the same from one side to another, whereupon we were in great feare, lest they should doe us some hurt, but they could not because the ship had a prosperous and good winde, and made much way, whereby it could receive no harme, although they touched and strooke the same."2

3

In the account of Viscaino's voyages along the outer coast of Lower California in 1603, given by Torquemada, it is mentioned that the Baia de Ballenas, or Bay of Whales, was so named by the explorer on account of the numbers of whales seen there. This was in July, 1602.

There are, according to H. H. Bancroft, but four voyages to be comprised under the title of early voyages for the discovery of California. These are Ferrelo's voyage, 1543; Drake's voyage, 1579; Gali's voyage, 1584; and Viscaino and Aguilar's voyage, 1603. An examination of the accounts of the first three fails to reveal any mention of whales, but in Viscaino's voyage of 1603 these animals were en

countered. The ships which were to make this voyage assembled in the harbor of Monterey, from which they started for Cape Mendocino, January 3, 1603. The resources of the Monterey region are described and among other things are mentioned "seals, very large, and many whales."1

Alaska was discovered by Vitus Bering in 1740, and in the account of the memorable and ill-starred expedition which Steller has given us we find several references to whales, the first, so far as I know, for that part of America. After the landfall at Mt. St. Elias in July, 1740, Bering steered northward and encountered the peninsula of Aliaska and the Aleutian Islands. It was while threading their way through this archipelago that the voyagers noticed the larger

cetaceans.

Steller first remarks on them as follows:

"From the 20th to the 23d [of August, 1740] we tacked along the Parallel of 53°. I now saw whales very numerous, not singly any more, but in pairs, and travelling in pairs with and behind one another and following one another, which provoked in me the thought that this must be the time fixed for their rut."2

This observation appears to have been made when the vessel was between the Aleutian and the Shumagin Islands. A little later Steller remarks again :

"The wind was favorable for us so that toward 2 o'clock in the afternoon [Sept. 6, 1740] we lost sight of the mainland and islands. But the numerous whales which accompanied us, one of which thrust more than half its length upright out of the sea, made us understand that a storm was brewing.' "The 13th of September [1740] was a bright day.

whales were seen playing and we expected nothing good." 4

1 TORQUEMADA, Monarchia Indiana, 1, 1723, p. 717.

STELLER, G. W., Reise von Kamtschatka nach Amerika, 1793, P. 42.

8

Op. cit., p. 76.

Moreover, many