FISHERIES.

It is the opinion of most writers on the subject of the Whale Fishery, that the Biscayans were the first people who exercised their courage in attacking the great monster of the deep. These people, dwelling along the sea-coast, were chiefly fishermen. A particular species of whale used to be a frequent visiter to the shores of France and Spain, and, in pursuit of herrings and other small fry, would naturally cause serious damage among the nets of the fishermen of

Biscay and Gascony. Concern for the preservation of their nets, which constituted their principal property, would naturally suggest the necessity of driving these intruders from their coast.

When the Basques and Biscayans first ventured to attack a whale with their spears and arrows, they were doubtless surprised to find that, instead of being the ferocious and formidable monster which they had imagined him, he was in fact timorous and comparatively inoffensive. This observation doubtless had a tendency so far to encourage them, that some of the most adventurous were induced to approach a whale in the extravagant hope of vanquishing him in fight. Observing that after receiving their weapons he evinced no intention of resistance, but on the contrary, immediately dived to the bottom of the sea, and that on his return to the surface, he was quite exhausted and apparently in a dying state, they doubtless soon conceived the possibility of so entangling him as to ensure his capture.

The precise period at which the whale fishery thus originated, is not known; but as early as the sixteenth century, the Biscayans pursued the whale into distant seas. The English, in 1594, fitted out an expedition to Cape Breton, to fish for the whale and the walrus or sea-horse, and in succeeding years pursued the latter into high northern latitudes. In 1611, the English first attacked the whale near the shores of Spitzbergen. After this, the Dutch and other nations of Europe became participators in the risks and advantages of these northern expeditions.

The Greenland whale fishery was not an immediate result of the discovery of Spitzbergen, but arose

out of the enterprising character of the adventurers employed in commercial speculations, at this period. Whatever importance was attached to the discovery of this frozen region, its value was eclipsed by that of the whale fishery in the prolific seas adjacent, as it proved, in a short time, the most lucrative, and the most important branch of national commerce which had yet been offered to the industry of man. The whales captured by the Biscayans were not so large as those taken in the Polar Seas, nor so productive of oil. Moreover they soon ceased to frequent the Bay of Biscay, and the fishers were obliged to pursue their prey along the banks of Newfoundland and the coast of Iceland, in consequence of which the French whale fishery greatly declined.

The voyages of the Dutch and English to the Northern Ocean, in the attempt to discover a western passage through it to India, though they failed of their main object, laid open the haunts of the whale. The companions of Barentz, who discovered Spitzbergen in 1596, and of Henry Hudson, who soon after explored the same seas, represented to their countrymen the amazing number of whales with which they were crowded. Vessels were in consequence fitted out for the northern whale fishery by the English and Dutch, the harpooners and a part of the crew being Biscayans. They did not, however, confine their efforts to a fair competition with each other as fishers. The English Muscovy Company obtained a Royal Charter, prohibiting the ships of all other nations from fishing in the seas round Spitzbergen, on pretence of its having been discovered first by Sir Hugh Willoughby. The

Company finding the Dutch whalers frequenting this neighborhood, attempted to vindicate their pretensions by force, and several hostile encounters took place between the vessels of the two nations. The conviction at length became general that there was room enough for all parties in the northern seas, and in order to avoid the chance of coming into collision with each other, they parcelled Spitzbergen and the adjacent ocean into districts which were respectively assigned to the English, Dutch, Hamburgians, French, Danes, &c. The Dutch being thus left to prosecute the whale fishery unmolested, soon acquired a decided superiority over all their competitors.

When the Europeans first began to prosecute this fishery on the coast of Spitzbergen, whales were everywhere found in vast numbers. Ignorant of the strength and stratagems of the formidable foe by whom they were now assailed, instead of betraying any symptoms of fear, they surrounded the ships and crowded all the bays. Their capture was in consequence a very easy task, and the whalers killed many which they were obliged to abandon in consequence of their ships being full. While the fishes were thus easily obtained, it was the practice to boil the blubber on shore in the north, and to bring home only the oil and the whalebone. Perhaps nothing can give a more vivid idea of the extent and importance of the Dutch fishery in the middle of the seventeenth century than the fact that the men established a considerable village, the houses of which were previously prepared in Holland, on the northern coast of Spitzbergen. This place was called by the appropriate name of Smeerenberg or

"Grease-mountain." It was the grand rendezvous of the Dutch whale ships, and was amply provided with boilers, tanks, and every kind of apparatus requisite for preparing the oil and the bone. The fleets of whalers were attended by a number of provision ships, the cargoes of which were landed at Smeerenberg, and this place abounded during the busy season, with well-furnished shops, good inns, &c., so that many of the conveniences and enjoyments of Amsterdam were found within about eleven degrees of the north pole! It is particularly mentioned that the sailors and others were supplied with what a Dutchman regards as a very great luxury, namely, hot rolls for breakfast, and that a signal was given by blowing a horn, when they were ready to be drawn from the oven. Smeerenberg was founded about the same period with the colony of Batavia, and it was for a considerable time doubtful whether the former was not the more important establishment.

During the flourishing period of the Dutch fishery, the quantity of oil made at Smeerenberg was so great that it could not be carried home by the whale ships, and every year vessels were sent out in ballast to assist in importing the produce of this valuable fishery. But the same cause that had destroyed the fishery of the Biscayans ruined that of Spitzbergen. The whales became scarce, shy, and difficult to catch. They retreated first to the open seas, and then to the great banks of ice on the east coast of Greenland. When the site of the fishery had been thus removed to a distance from Spitzbergen, it was found most economical to send the blubber directly to Holland. Smeer