Chapter 5 FURTHER ENTERPRISES GENERAL RESULTS.

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Section I.-The Greenock Whale-fishing Company.

In the summer of 1810, whilst I was on a recreative tour in Scotland, and visiting at the house of a merchant in Greenock, my adventures and experience in the northern whale-fishery became a frequent topic of conversation. This was the means of eliciting, in respect to several gentlemen with whom I had intercourse, a strong disposition to embark in this, to them, new department of commercial enterprise. My Father, at this very time, being on the point of retiring from the command of the Resolution, was informed of the circumstance, which speedily led to his forming a new and satisfactory connection with some of the first men, in character and position, in that enterprising port.

The associates, originally, were, I believe, George Robertson and William Forsyth (of the house of Messrs. Robertson, Forsyth, and Co.), and David Hyde, Esquires, who, with my Father, each holding equal, or one-fourth shares, constituted the new firm of "The Greenock Whale-fishing Company." Of this association, my Father was appointed the managing partner, with authority to purchase and fit out one or not exceeding two ships, for the Greenland fishery, in which he was to have the select or principal command.

Under this arrangement my Father proceeded to London, and purchased two ships, only one of which, however, the John, was ultimately appropriated to this Arctic adventure.

The John was a Batavia-built teak ship, 316 tons burden. To ships built of this species of timber, almost indestructible in respect of ordinary decay, my Father was very partial; and, in purchasing the John, though she proved more expensive than was expected (having cost 12,700l. to sea), he was not, as to this peculiar and important quality of her timber, disappointed. She proved a fine ship, an admirable "sea-boat," and, except as to capacity, which was rather too small, fully answered his expectations.

No time was lost in entering upon this new and responsible enterprise. The John sailed, on her first voyage, in 1811, the season next succeeding my Father's last command of the Resolution; and the result, as to its successfulness, well satisfied the sanguine hopes of the parties associated in the risk. The cargo obtained was sixteen stout whales, which yielded a produce of 200 tuns of oil.

With this commencement, the residue of the adventure of this concern amply corresponded. During the four voyages to which the co-partnery extended, 103 whales were captured, and a produce of 837 tuns of oil, averaging 209 tuns a season, brought into port. In the last voyage of the series, that of 1814, thirty-four whales, yielding 249 tuns of oil, were taken; being, as to quantity, the best of all my Father's adventures. The cargo of the preceding year, however, was, on account of the very high price of oil, the most remunerative. The gross receipts of that year, on account of a cargo of 190 tuns of oil, and about ten tons of whalebone, amounted to the extraordinary sum of about 11,000l.!

The entire successes of this fourth command of my Father's, as thus exhibited, not merely equalled, it is seen, but actually exceeded any one of his former enterprises. Though his cargoes, however, were nearly double the general average of the fishery, there were now competitors, in this field of enterprise, who, within this limited and particular period, equalled or even outrun him in the race. The only accurate comparison which I am here enabled to make, is with respect to the successes of the Hull fishermen. And here I find two,-Captain Joseph Sadler, of the Gilder, and Captain Harrison, of the Walker,-whose enterprises during these four years were highly productive; having yielded, as to the former, something more than the John's cargoes, and as to the latter, just about the same amount. But in both these cases, it may be noticed, that the tonnage of the ships was advantageously larger than that of the John.

Before proceeding with an account of the concluding enterprises of the subject of these memorials, we have an incident to notice, which, however trifling in itself, may, it is hoped, interest the reader, because of its characteristic nature and somewhat amusing result.

Section II.-"Cum au greim a gheibhthu."

The capacity for receiving knowledge, and the capability of applying the knowledge possessed, are characteristics of very different qualities of mind. The latter of these qualities is, per se, incomparably the most important and valuable. For one man, with comparatively moderate attainments, but having a facility in applying the knowledge he has acquired, will be a far more useful member of society, and is capable of becoming a more distinguished character, than another of vastly superior acquirements in learning, who does not possess the faculty of application. Thus one, like the skilful mechanician, may be able out of small variety of materials to construct apparatus of indefinite extent of usefulness, or, like the expert and talented smith, may be able to construct out of one material every species of instrument (to use a sailor's phraseology), "from a needle to an anchor," whilst another, though possessing almost unlimited stores of materials, may have little capacity for bringing them out and applying them to purposes of usefulness. The former case is that of one who is of himself a practical artist in knowledge; the latter, of one who requires others to bring out and apply the knowledge which he has been careful to store up.

My Father, in a truly eminent degree, possessed the first of these characteristics of mind. Whatever knowledge he might gain he was apt in applying, and so applying, by the powers of a vigorous intelligence, as to make the result strikingly original.

The incident which I here record, was, indeed, of itself, rather curious and amusing, than important or specially useful. But in it we find developed an order of mind which, if it possess but one fact of a particular species, will, if occasion should ever require, or admit of its being done, turn that one fact to account.

Whilst resident for considerable intervals of time in Scotland, during his engagement with the Greenock Whale-fishing Company, my Father had been thrown into intercourse with some of the Gaelic speaking population of the district. Some of their phrases had struck him as being curious and forcible, especially in relation to the economics of worldly policy. Among these, one phrase in particular had been fixed in his memory-"Cum au greim a gheibhthu;" which, being interpreted in Scottish idiom, he understood to imply, "Haud," or "Keep the grip you have got."

The occasion on which this phrase, somewhat felicitously, was brought into use, was the following:-Returning from one of his voyages to the Greenland seas, whilst sailing from the port of Greenock, they had stretched, under a prevalence of south-westerly gales, to leeward of the northern shore of the island of Mull, forming part of the county of Argyle. The wind not availing for convenient progress on the destined course, they took shelter in Tobermory, near the head of the Sound of Mull. This port, as a site for commercial enterprise, was brought into consideration (undue consideration as the trial has proved) by the "Board of Trustees for the Encouragement of the Fisheries," a little more than half a century ago. The place naturally attracting my Father's attention, he went on shore with little delay. He proceeded to the inn first of all, and indicated his wish to the landlord to have dinner provided for him before he returned to his ship. The interval he naturally employed in examining the place and the neighbouring scenery.

During the time whilst he remained at the inn, and was in communication with its inmates, he observed,-when ordering his dinner, and when being waited on as he was eating, as also, subsequently, when he asked the cost of the entertainment he had received,-no language was spoken betwixt the landlord and his wife (who mutually contributed to his requirements) but the Gaelic. And on two or three occasions, especially on a discussion, as he fancied, of the important matter of the reckoning, there seemed to be a considerable difference of opinion betwixt the parties as to the amount to be charged. Nevertheless whilst by the significant action, and whispering tone, he gathered, or supposed he gathered, so much of the purport of the discussion, not one word of what was said, as they had justly inferred, could he strictly or certainly interpret.

But a trifling incident, by which his acquaintance with the maxim above spoken of was elicited, gave a new and somewhat astounding annunciation to his Gaelic-speaking hosts.

Some little time before his departure, being in want of some carbonate of soda, which he occasionally took for a not unfrequent annoyance of acidity at the stomach, a messenger, a little son of the landlord, was sent to the apothecary, to procure what was required, he being furnished with sixpence as payment for the same. On his return with the article it happened that the parents of the boy, who had just finished one of their Gaelic discussions, were both in the room, and were observant of his delivering the carbonate, and, along with it, twopence, the amount of the change. This, my Father declined receiving; but the boy, not thoroughly assured of the intention, turned to his parents for directions how to act, who, participating in his perplexity about retaining it, motioned him to return the pence again. On his second essay to do this, he was met by the most expressive and intelligible injunction,-"Cum au greim a gheibhthu,"-an injunction which the lad received with not less surprise than satisfaction.

Whilst my Father, with his characteristic self-possession and coolness, practised this little device, he was greatly amused in marking the wonderful effects of his Gaelic maxim upon the minds and feelings of his hosts. The mere utterance of a few words in a language supposed to be unknown to their guest, might have sufficed, under any circumstances, to have occasioned some surprise; but the so felicitous an application of a national phrase in the peculiar circumstances of the case, seemed absolutely to overwhelm them with consternation. For they naturally inferred that their guest must be familiar with a language which he had thus idiomatically employed, and therefore that he must have understood the discussions, designed to be most private, which had been held in his hearing. From that moment there was an obvious change of manner and conduct towards their guest by his hosts; not that they were less respectful, but more cautiously reserved; and it seemed not a little curious, after so much of the native tongue had been heard, that not another word of Gaelic was ever uttered by any of the household in my Father's hearing so long as he remained among them.

Section III.-Subsequent and concluding Enterprises.

On the retirement of my Father from the Greenock Whale-fishing Company, the command of the John, with the advantages and perquisites enjoyed by her original commander, was transferred to his son-in-law, Captain Thomas Jackson. Having previously, during a period of three years, held a command in the transport service, besides having been associated with my Father in his voyages of 1813 and 1814, Mr. Jackson took up this somewhat novel service with that spirit, talent, and enterprise, which, in their action and results, were alike commendatory and successful.

My Father, meanwhile, whose spirit of enterprise, if not wearied, had become somewhat less constraining in furtherance of fresh undertakings, was content, for the first time during a period of above thirty years service, to remain for a season (that of the year 1815) unemployed. But, ill at ease in a condition of entire idleness, he undertook, for a couple of voyages, to sail out of Whitby (without engagement of property in the adventure) in charge of the Mars, a new ship of 343 tons, belonging to his old and steady friends, Messrs. Fishburn and Brodrick. The cargoes, in this instance obtained, did not correspond with those which had hitherto claimed for him an unrivalled superiority. They were still characterised, when compared with the results of the fishery in general, as superior; but superior only to an extent of one-fourth or one-fifth beyond the common average.

Another year of retirement from the sea-service, as a commander, succeeded his engagement in the command of the Mars; but the time was not spent, as before, without any professional object; my Father, in the autumn of 1817, having purchased, solely on his own account, another teak-built ship, the Fame, of 370 tons burden, originally brought into England as a prize from the French.

The fitting out of the Fame was deferred until a period very inconveniently late, under the idea, perhaps, of her being employed by the Government for Arctic researches,-just at this time proposed to be renewed; and this idea he might well be supposed to entertain, because of the knowledge of the fact,-that it was in consequence of information communicated by myself to the President of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, that the attention of the Council of the Royal Society and the Government had been directed to the long dormant enterprise, and that that distinguished patron of science, with whom we both had frequent intercourse, was very desirous that I should be employed (having requested me to be sent for to London with this view) in the proposed adventure.[M]

Our expectations herein, however, I need hardly add, were altogether disappointed, and, so far as expense, at least, was concerned, much to the national disadvantage, as we could have accomplished one of those enterprises (the Polar research of 1818) at one-tenth of the cost of the appointed expedition, and, at all events, with as much effectiveness; for, on that unfortunate occasion, less could not have been accomplished.

In consequence of the delay by this and other causes induced, it was not without very great efforts that the Fame was got ready for the fishery of the ensuing season, 1818. The requisite preparations however, were completed, whilst there was yet time for the adventure, and the ship, for the first attempt, being put under my command, sailed from Liverpool on the 2nd April. Having obtained, for the season, which was not a prosperous one, a good cargo, we returned, August the 18th, (as had been arranged) to Whitby.

In the following spring my Father re-assumed his habitual occupation in command of the Fame; but the great draught of water and somewhat sharp build of the ship, rendering the tide-harbour, to which, in this first instance, she had resorted, both inconvenient and unsafe, her port was again changed for Hull, to which, with but a moderate cargo, she returned. The next voyage, that of 1820, was, for the somewhat unfavourable season, a very successful one; that of 1821 was moderately good; that of 1822 returned only an average cargo; and the attempt of 1823 was prematurely arrested by the unfortunate destruction of the ship by fire.

The Fame had been fitted out for this contemplated voyage with unusual care and expense,-considerable alterations and improvements, independent of repairs, having been made; she had proceeded northward as far as the Orkneys, where she had taken up an anchorage for the completion of her crew with boatmen, when the catastrophe, which summarily frustrated the undertaking, brought my Father's Arctic adventures at the same time to a sudden termination; for after so long a pursuance of his arduous enterprises, and the acquisition of a handsome and ample competency, there were much stronger motives for inducing him now to remain on shore, "for the enjoyment of the fruits of his labours," than to stimulate to further efforts in any new undertaking.

The summary of these two latter enterprises, it will naturally have been anticipated, does not correspond with that of the three-and-twenty years of all but continuous successes. For though the cargoes obtained in his six last voyages were, on the whole, considerably above the ordinary average, yet they by no means maintained the claim to superiority.

This change, however, in my Father's position as a fisherman, admits of a satisfactory explanation. The circumstances on which success was now dependent had, in some most essential particulars, changed. Superior knowledge of the Arctic ices, and consummate skill in penetrating and navigating the compact or tortuous interruptions to the usual retreats of the whales, which with him were so characteristic, were now no longer available. So greatly had the whales been reduced in number, apparently, by the enormous slaughter of their species during the last quarter of a century; and so much scattered had the residue been by the perpetual harass and attacks to which they had been subjected, that the positions, wherein the opportunity for making a successful voyage used to be constantly afforded, were now almost entirely deserted. Hence the enterprise and skill, enabling the fisherman to take the lead in penetrating the ice, which had been wont to be eminently rewarded, had now become of little avail. No one could calculate on the positions in which fish might be found. In places apparently most likely, not a fish, perhaps, was to be seen; whilst in circumstances least expected success might be met with. And although a few active, enterprising, and clever men, were now and then found taking a lead in respect to proportionate success, yet the fishery altogether had become very precarious; so increasingly precarious, indeed, that within about half-a-dozen years of this time the whale-fishery of the Greenland seas proved so utterly unremunerative, as to be all but abandoned as a distinct commercial enterprise. The port of Hull, for example, which during the whole period of my Father's command of a whaler had, on an average, sent out twenty-two ships annually to the Greenland fishery,-in 1828, only five years after he discontinued the pursuit, had only one Greenlandman, and the year following none.

His retirement from so active and enterprising a pursuit as had engaged the subject of these records during a period, altogether, of six-and-thirty years of his life, was by no means an event of unmixed benefit. It was far otherwise. For the effect of wear and tear on the constitution, whilst for this long period subjected to circumstances of peculiar anxiety and excitement of adventure, soon became apparent under the trial of absolute leisure and the deprivation of ordinary stimulus. It is, indeed, a well-ascertained characteristic of the human system, strikingly indicative of the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, to derive temporary energy from the very stimulus of the demands for energy. Thus strength, beyond all previous imagination, is often yielded for special occasions, whilst the capability of action is wonderfully maintained for the period of protracted necessity or duty. But the trial comes when the tension of the mysterious fabric of the human system has to be relaxed. The strength, for the occasion, being beyond the ordinary powers of renovation, is maintained by the nervous stimulant at the expense of a wear and tear which not only becomes apparent on the cessation of the undue exercise, but in aggravated proportion by reason of the natural reaction.

How far these operations in a too long continued stretch of the natural powers might have induced the inferior state of my Father's health, during the six years of his life succeeding the time of his retirement from the sea, it is impossible to say; though the fact of this deterioration of health, in the interval of leisure, was abundantly apparent.

Section IV.-General Results of his entire Whale-fishing Adventures.

In conclusion of these records of my Father's Arctic enterprises, commercially, there remain yet to be given the general comparisons and results, in which we shall again find them to be great and pre-eminent. The materials for these comparisons, on my Father's part, are compendiously exhibited in the following summary of his various voyages:-

TABULAR VIEW OF THE SUCCESSES OF THE LATE W. SCORESBY, ESQ., IN HIS ADVENTURES IN THE GREENLAND WHALE-FISHERY.

No. of Voyage. Year. Ship commanded. Cargo obtained.

Whales. Tuns of Oil.

1 1791 Henrietta. clean. nil.

2 1792 " 18 112

3 1793 " 6 90

4 1794 " 6 120

5 1795 " 25 143

6 1796 " 9 112

7 1797 " 16 152

8 1798 Dundee. 36 198

9 1799 " 12 144

10 1800 " 3 45

11 1801 " 23 225

12 1802 " 20 200

13 1803 Resolution. 13 164

14 1804 " 33 188

15 1805 " 30 196

16 1806 " 24 216

17 1807 " 13 213

18 1808 " 27 210

19 1809 " 26 216

20 1810 " 28 214

21 1811 John. 16 200

22 1812 " 25 198

23 1813 " 28 190

24 1814 " 35 249

- 1815 [on shore.] - -

25 1816 Mars. 20 170

26 1817 " 6 82

- 1818 [on shore.] - -

27 1819 Fame. 10 120

28 1820 " 10 184

29 1821 " 9 143

30 1822 " 6 70

The total number of voyages in which he held the command in the fishery, from first to last, was just thirty. The entire cargoes obtained, under this personal guidance, comprised the produce of 533 whales,-"a greater number," says his friend Mr. Drew, "than has fallen to the share of any other individual in Europe,"-with that of many thousands of seals, some hundreds of walruses, very many narwals, and probably not less than sixty bears. The quantity of oil yielded by this produce was 4664 tuns, of whalebone about 240 tons weight, besides the skins of the seals, bears, and walruses taken.

From hence we derive a general average, during the thirty voyages, of eighteen whales, yielding 155·5 tuns of oil per voyage; or, omitting the first voyage, which, for reasons stated in Chapter II., ought fairly to be excluded, the average would be 18·4 whales, yielding 160 tuns of oil for each voyage.

In comparison of the general average of the British whale-fishery, this, no doubt, stands singularly high. But not having the materials for the exact determination of this general comparison, we may take the Hull whale-fishery for our guidance, which, from the large number of ships regularly engaged therein, will, it is believed, afford a fair estimate. And this section of the fishery, we find, comprised, betwixt the years 1791 and 1822 inclusive, an average of twenty-two ships annually, the cargoes of which, during that period, averaged 84·5 tuns of oil a voyage per ship. Compared with this, it is seen, that my Father's yearly average was almost double the quantity!

It is not possible, because of the lack of accounts as to several of my Father's ships, to ascertain, except proximately, the actual value of the produce now determined; but, from the variety of information now before me, as to the marketable value of Greenland produce during a considerable majority of the years corresponding with these voyages, I have been enabled to calculate the gross proceeds of the whole thirty years adventures, in money, at 196,591l., or possibly a full 200,000l.!

The proportion of expenses due to these enterprises and results may, in like manner, be proximately calculated. For, if the Hull fishery, with little more than half of my Father's success, were fairly remunerative,-as it obviously must have been to induce perseverance therein,-then, the residue of his catch above that average may, mainly, be considered as clear profit; for, in such estimate, we set off the additional expenses incurred where there is superior success against the actual remunerating profits in the inferior success. On this estimate we should have the value of, say, seventy-five tuns of oil and four tons of whalebone for the clear profit; or, out of a gross annual produce of the value of 6600l., a residue calculated to yield about 3000l. a voyage profit.[N]

This estimate would give the sum of 90,000l., or, omitting the first voyage, 87,000l. for the amount of this individual skill and enterprise, divided, in the shape of profits, among the owners embarked in the general enterprise! On another ground of calculation, guided by the proportion of expenses in certain known cases, the expenses were taken at two-fifths the produce, which would reduce the profits (probably too low) to about 80,000l.

In setting forth this result as very remarkable, it is with reference, it should be observed, to the instrumentality and capital employed. It is no uncommon thing for a sum like this, or much greater than this, to be realized in commercial enterprises; but, in such cases, there are generally many instruments and a large capital employed in the business. But here, under the one individual direction, there was but one ship employed, involving an investment of capital of from 6000l. to 12,700l., or, on an average, not exceeding 9000l., and this small investment yielding, through a series of about thirty years, no less a sum than 3000l. a year, being at the rate of 33? per cent per annum on the capital employed.

Section V.-Unusual Capture of Walruses.

This incident, which belongs to the period of the Fame's voyages, is here introduced, in conclusion of the general series of my Father's Northern adventures, as presenting something of novelty in the modern whale-fishery.

The walrus or sea-horse, as the whalers designate it, is one of those extraordinary animals so prevalent in the Arctic regions, in which, like the whale, are comprised the mixed characteristics of the inhabitants of sea and land. The body, generally, from its extensive conformity, might be supposed to be that of a huge seal; but the head is peculiar, approaching the nearest, but only in rude and diminutive resemblance, to that of the elephant, as being somewhat square-faced, with a hard and massive skull, scarcely pervious to a musket-ball, and with two large external tusks pointing downward. The fore paws may be compared to webbed hands; the hind feet, in their ordinary position when at rest, form an expansive tail. The skin, covered with short hair, is of remarkable substance, so as to produce a strong, but rather porous leather, of about an inch in thickness. A thin layer of fat lies beneath the skin.

As met with on the coast of Spitzbergen, this animal is found of the length, ordinarily, of twelve to fifteen feet, and eight to ten feet in circumference. But specimens elsewhere found on the coasts of some Arctic countries, are represented as extending to twenty feet in length. The Spitzbergen animal, full grown, is about the bulk of an ox; its weight, as I have estimated it, being from fifteen to twenty-four hundredweight. But a twenty-feet walrus could hardly weigh less than three tons.

Though the tusks, the fat, and the skins, have a fair commercial value, the animal is never sought after as a special object of enterprise by the whalers, except incidentally, and very few are taken. Large captures, indeed, were occasionally made of sea-horses, in the early periods of adventure after the discovery of Spitzbergen; but these animals have seldom been met with by our modern whalers in any considerable number together, and their capture, consequently, has very rarely exceeded half-a-dozen in a voyage. No summary mode of killing them, indeed, had been prevalent or understood by which due advantage might be taken of any extraordinary opportunity. If met with in the water, where they might be attacked with muskets or lances, the chance of capture was but small, as the wounded animal would generally dive and escape. Formerly, I remember, harpoons of a small kind were provided expressly for the sea-horse; but with the whale harpoon, now only used, the tough skin of the creature is hard to be penetrated. If met with on shore or on ice, lances and muskets were more available, and in such positions the principal, though scanty, captures of modern times were wont to be made.

My Father's enterprise, therefore, in the case now referred to, was the more remarkable, not only because of the unusual number captured, but because of the novelty adopted in the mode of attack, by which mainly the success was gained.

Being on the coast of Spitzbergen, in the Fame, in the summer of 1819, when no incumbrance was met with from ice, my Father was induced to stretch into one of the fine picturesque inlets with which this remarkable region abounds, Magdalena Bay, where an extraordinary sight on the beach attracted his attention. Hundreds, if not thousands, of animals, which on their near approach proved to be sea-horses, were seen congregated on the sloping shore, thickly huddled together, basking in the bright sunshine and genial warmth of the sheltered position.

No one on board having ever seen anything of the kind before, all were in a state of excitement, which soon became naturally diverted into ardour for conflict and capture. Measures were speedily concerted by which a due harvest might, if possible, be reaped out of this wonderfully stocked field. Muskets, evidently, could do little, as the vast herd, on being alarmed, would doubtless hurry into the sea, before the discharged arms could be reloaded, and harpoons could be of no avail. Lances and whale-knives, however, promised a better instrumentality, and especially one kind of the latter, the tail-knife, which in reality proved the most effective of all. This instrument, designed for making perforations in the tail and fins of the captured whale, when preparing to be towed to the ship, constitutes a portion of the furniture of every whale-boat, and consists of a nearly three-feet straight sharp-pointed blade, with a wooden handle of like measure. It resembles the blade of a cutlass, out of which weapon, indeed, this kind of knife is frequently constructed.

From accounts which at different times I have received from individuals participating in the affair, I am enabled to offer such description of the plan and proceedings as may serve, I hope, to give a tolerably correct notion of this curious and novel kind of exploit.

Well furnished with what appeared to be the best weapons for the attack, the boats set out on the adventure, spreading themselves, whilst at a distance, so as to make a simultaneous and warlike descent upon the beach.

As this animal is but imperfectly adapted for locomotion on land, and its progress, usually, sluggish and slow, there was a chance with the individuals which had adventured highest up the slope of doing some considerable execution among them. Though the walrus, ordinarily, appears singularly fearless,-it might be said, stupidly fearless,-yet the whole herd, in this case, was soon put into a state of commotion and alarm. The principal attack on the flanks having arrested several of the number, the general mass began a scrambling retreat, assuming a strangely formidable, yet otherwise grotesque appearance, whilst, in their haste, the huge carcasses were seen, in their mutual interferences, rolling one over another down the beach.

Two or three of the leaders of the attacking party,-the foremost among whom was, I believe, Mr. William Jackson, afterwards a successful commander,-perceiving the risk of the vast herd escaping before they should have time for any considerable success in captures, boldly threw themselves betwixt the affrighted walruses and the sea, so as, to the extent their means of destruction might enable them, to cut off their retreat. And now it was that the tail-knife was found to be a most admirable weapon for the occasion, its sharpness of point, and length of blade, yielding mortal results at almost every stroke, and its length of handle enabling its wielder to avoid the formidable tusks of the creature whilst attacking it close to hand.

The result exceeded the most sanguine expectations of the assailants. Many wounded ones, I believe, escaped into the sea, but a famous slaughter and advantageous spoil rewarded the adventure. One hundred and thirty of these animals remained as trophies of the sailors' victory, yielding, besides the corresponding quantity of hides, a large weight of tusks and teeth, adapted for dental purposes, and a quantity of oil, which, perhaps, we may roughly estimate at 1500 to 2000 gallons.

FOOTNOTES:

[M] This fact having been differently reported and understood, the reader who feels any interest in the subject may satisfy himself, I believe, of the reality by reference to an article in the "Edinburgh Philosophical Journal," vol. xx. 1835-6, "On some Circumstances connected with the Original Suggestion of the Modern Arctic Expeditions."

[N] This estimate of profits, though exceeding those of the Resolution, already given, may be still maintained, on the ground of the price of provisions and the high rates of seamen's wages and insurance, pertaining to a period, except as to one year, of continuous war.