The Wichita daily eagle., 1895-03-01
COMES VERY HIGH
DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF Sc
CURING WATCHMAKERS OIL.
A Delicate Lubricator. but Men Take Their
Lives In Their Hands to Get It-How
Sharks Crowd In at the Death of Por-
poise-Toid by an Eyewitness.

Sharks Crowd In at the Death of Por-
poise-Told BY an Eyewitness.
What do you suppose this oil am
using comes from:" asked the watchmak-
er. This oil comes from the jaw of the
porpoise they catch in the bay of Fundy
and other places on the coast of Maine.
say they catch the porpoises, but that
isn't exactly the fact, for they don't catch
them any more than the hunter catches
the deer he goes out to bag. They hunt the
porpoises and shoot them, and immense
fellows they are, sometimes weighing $50
pounds. Hunting porpoises in the bay of
Fundy know from experience is decid-
| edly dangerous business, but a great many
people get their living by it along the
| coast The most expert porpoise hunters
| are the remnants OF that ancient tribe OF
Indians, the Passanaquoddies They ugu-
ally camp on Indian beach, bordering on
the bay of Furdy, and there is good
sprinkling of whites among them too. /
took a winter trip once along the coast OF
Maine, and at Indian beach Isoon noticed
that there were g-eat many men, old and
| young, both among the Indians and the
| white men, who had but one arm or one
]
hands and fingers We're missing ON others
l finally asked a native what was the
cause of the lack Or loss of those missing
| members.
| . 'Sharksp was his grim reply.
by further questioning l learned that
| very frequently when a porpoise is shot
on the hunting grounds of the coast its
| death struggles will not be over before the
/ oil hrn g hO,
bristle with the bayonetlike back fins of
sharks that have suddenly come from the
depths = gulp in the blood that flows CO.
piously from the stricken porpoise. 1t is
seldom that sharks will bite at the carcass
of a porpoise. but they will follow it to
the boat as the hunters pull it in, and if
the latter are not wary will with one snap
of their terrible jaws take off an arm at
the elbow, or at least hand
Il was not anxious TO see any one have
an arm taken off, hut did want to see a
porpoise killed ard watch the array of
sharks that they said was almost invari-
ably in at the death. l hired couple of
big Indians 20 take me with them on a
days hunt. Sometimes these Indians will
not &C ont for days, no matter how fine
the weather is, but loaf and lay around
like lazy pigs. But when they do make
up their minds TO go out there is 10
weather too rough to stop them. They
launch their boats at all risks and make a
start for the hunting grounds, whether
they ever reach them or not. 1t is by no
means an unheard of thing for boat to
start out in tempestuous weather and for
neither boat nor hunters TO be heard of
again unless by chance the waves wash
them ashore. Two men go in boat, bus
as the boats are made large enough to
fetch back two or three porpoises, weigh
ing from 200 TO SEQ pounds, there is room
enough for a third person if be is anxious
To take the risk and share the hardships
The morning / made the third occu-
pant Of the boat speak of was sunny and
calm, but it was March, and the Indians
told me squarely that it might blow great
guns before we could hope TO get back
But was resolved To go, and 90 I did
No one will ever know how prayed few
hours later to be safe back on the beach
''On the way out to the porpoise grounds
the Indians told Ine that it took years to
make an expert porpoise hunter ont of a
beginner. and that they put their boys to
the task as soon as they were large enough
and strong enough. Each Indian had a
heavy gun, with a barrel at least foot
longer than an ordinary gun. The bore
was smooth and very large. They put in \
charges of powder that it seemed to me
We're heavy enough to load cannon and
rammed on top of them handful of dou-
Bile b shot
"We went ont two miles, and long be-
fore we got TO the place we were headed
for we could hear the porpoises blowing
like steam whistles. On clear days the
sound Is easily heard on the beach. A
stiff nor'easter was coming up, and as the
hunters picked oat a porpOise and were
stealing upon it the wind was a gale. The
higher the waves rolled the more the por
poises seemed to enjoy themselves, and the
gale didn't seem TO worry the Indians a
bit. A big porpoise raised on the crest of
wave a short distance away, and ire
mendOuS report shook the boat. One Of tho
Indians had discharged his gun. The wave
brought the porpoise and crimson tide
almost against the boat, and here and
there, all around it, long black blades
darted to and fro above the surface
They didn't need to tell me what they
were, for I knew. They were the black
fins of sharks, q dozen at least of which
were playing about in that porpoise's blood
and drinking il. The Indians apparently
paying no more attention to the sharks
than if they had been bits of floating wood,
proceeded TO land their prize. The one In
dian had reached out for the dorsal fin
when 1 saw flash in the water on the
other side. With sharp cry the Indian
jerked back his hand, and blood trickled
frem cash on its back
' Shark closet he said, with no more
sign OF emotion than 4 wooden Indian, and
he wiped the blood on his blouse. Waiting
for favorable roll of the waves, which
were rolling alarmingly high now, the In
dian unconcernedly reached for the fin
again, got it. and the porpoise was raised
in the boat.
The Indians take all this risk the year
round to get the oil the porpoises yield,
the average yield being three gallons Of
blubber oil 20 n porpoise, which they sell
for so cents gallon. 1t is tried out in the
old fashioned soap kettles on the beach.
The jaw oil is obtained by hanging the
jaw in the sun, the heat of which tries il
out A good rich jaw Will yield half a
pint of oil, but that half pint is worth
more than gallon of the blubber oil 1t
is the very best OF oil for watches and del
icate mechanism, as the merest mite Of it
will oil a watch for months, and it nevs-
corrOdes New York sun