Newport daily independent., 1904-08-12
MN poRpo1sEs.
re the Finite Cetaceans Ere # If of St. Lawrence,
 %4re Valuable.

Lawrence from be mouth of the Sague- nay can almost ways enjoy thedght of number of pffpoises disporting them selves upon she water in the neighbor- hood of Ia Ioussac, says the New York Sun. The great white cetaceans appear like shapefess masses of blubber as their arched backs show from time to time above the surface. They are doubtless attracted to the mouth of the Saguenay by the large number of salmon which en- ter the river throughout the season.
 A large industry Is expected soon to vpring up in various parts of the Gulf Of St. Lawrence in connection with the hunting of porpoisee. It has already been attempted upon a small scale. but the difficulty of capturing any great number of the animals has stood in the way of success. Now the difficulty has been overcome through the observations and experiments of Campbell McNab. g Canadian hunter, who has spent many years in the study of these animals
 Tho adult porpoise of the St. Lawrence and. the North Atlantic ocean is from 12 to IS feet in length. It somewhat re- sembles a dolphin in shape, with large dorsal fin and mouth armed with many strong and sharp teeth. Each porpoise Is believed to eat from one to three bar rels of fish day, so that 1t is difficult to estimate the frightful ravages which they make among the salmon, the her ring and the cod. They are largely gre garious, though they often hunt their prey in couples. MT. McNab has often peered over the edge of an overhanging rock to watch them catch salmon at the mouth of a stream and sometimes long distance up river, where they follow their prey. They chase salmon into a shallow and then two approach 1t from either side The salmon appears un- able to move, as If paralyzed with fear. If he attempts to rush from one of his pursuers he falls into the open mouth of the other
 The porpoise is equally expert in fish, ing for the slippery eel. MT. McNab opened one of these animals the other day and found more than 40 cells in it's stomach. To prevent their wriggling, and to aid digestion. the porpoise cracks the skull of the eel between Its teeth be- fore swallowing It.
 Like the eel, the porpoise can live . long time out of the water. In fact, 1t Is virtually amphibious. Some time ago MT. McNab shot a number of the ani- mals which had been hauled ashore and bound together by their tails. After claiming another lot at some distance and taking out the blubber, he turned few days later to the lot which had been last shot, Unknown to him one had not been killed outright. As he passed In front of 1t it growled at him Hike dog. he says, and opened its jaws to snap him.
 The porpoises are captured by being imprisoned at low tide on the shoals, over which they have journeyed when the tide was high, in pursuit of theif prey Hitherto the difficulty has been to find any barrier strong enough to retain such enormously strong, heavy beasts, and so many of them together as are sometimes enclosed. MT. McNab has made the interesting discovery that the enormous nets through which they often broke are not necessary to hold back the brutes. They are unable to stand the slightest vibration in the water, and so all that the hunter now finds necessary is to fasten a long thin pole like f1shing rod to a stake in the mouth of tho stream, the bay or the estuary within which 1t Is desired to retain the DOT poises. They remain to be stranded and Nxyt .,~o~ xh o hoI M cxvc th a th n von~ ture past the vibrating rod.
 This sensitiveness Is believed to have It's seat in the ear of the animal. which has SO small an opening that 1t might almost have been made with pin. For years McNab has held firmly to this theory, only to be laughed at for his pains. He has now proved 1t beyond peradventure. and has reaped the fruit of his persistence. At one tide the other day he secured 69 of the animals on the shoals of the Portneuf river few miles below Tadoussac, and next year will pursue operations there upon larger scale. He has secured nine year lease of the shoal from the government and has apparently fortune within easy reacn. The sklu anu oA AioiA oiA6Ao porpoise are worth from $50 to $50.
 The utmost caution has to be taken not to drive the animals away from their haunts. If any of the blood or refuse 0. their dead Is permitted to reach the wa- ter, MT. McNab declares, they will de- sert the place entirely. This is the ex- plantation he gives of the present absence of porpoises from the River Ouelle and other places on the banks of the St. Law renee, where few years ago many Of them were annually killed. The DOT poiue, he says, is one of the most inte!li- fept animals created.
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