Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-01-05
A FORTUNE IN PORPOlSES.
CAPTURED BY BEING IMPRIsoN-
ED AT Low TIDE ON SHOALS.

- = AO0 OtN O4A0H IOs
They're Worth at Least $50 Apiece
Slender Ped in the Water Holds
'Em- Expert in Fisning for the
Slippery Eel.
American tourists crossing the st.
Lawrence, in Canada, from the mouth
of the Saguenay, can almost an avs
enjoy the sight OF number Of per
poises disportiug themselves upon
the water in the neigh borhood CT Ia
doussac The great yst::t.ss eetaceans
appear like shapeless masses of blub-
Der 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 num-
Der of salmon which enter the river
throughout the season.
A large industry is expected soon
to spring up in various parts of the
Gulf of ST. Lawrence in connection
with the hunting Of porpoises. 1t has
already been attempted upon 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, a Canadian hunter,
who has spent many years in the
study of these animals.
The adult porpoise of the st. Law
renee and the North Atlantic ocean
is from twelve to eighteen feet in
length. 1t somewhat resembles dol
phin in shape, with large dorsal fin
and a mouth armed with many strong
and sha7p teeth. Each porpoise is be-
lieved to eat from one to three bar
rels of fish day, so that it is difficult
to estimate the frightful ravages
which they make upon the salmon,
the herring and the cod. They are
largely gregarious, though they often
hunt their prey in couples. Mr.. Nc
Nab has often peered over the edge of
an overhanging rock to watch them
catching salmon at the mouth of a
stream and sometimes a long dis
lance up a river, where they follow
their prey. They chase a salmon into
shallow and then two approach it
from either side The salmon APP
pears unable 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
fishing for the slippery eel. Mr.. Nc
Nab opened one of these animals the
other day and found more than forty
cells in its stomach. To prevent their
wriggling, and to aid digestion, the
porpoise cracks the skull of the eel
between it's teeth before swallowing
it.
Like the eel, the porpoise can live
a long time out of tie water. In
fact, it is virtually arlphibious. Some
time ago Mr. McNab shot a number of
the animals which had been hauled
ashore and bound together by their
tails. After SHINING another lot ct
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 it it growled at him like a dog, -
he says, and opened it's jaws to snap
him.
The porpoises are captured by be-
ing imprisoned at low tide on the
shoals, over which they have journey
ed when the tide was high, in pursuit
of their 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 en-
closed. Mr.. McNab has made the in
teresting discovery that the enorm-
GUS 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 fishing rod, to a stake in
the mouth of the stream, the bay or
the estuary within which it is desired
to retain the porpoises. They re-
main to be stranded and killed upon
the shadows rather than venture past
the vibrating rod.
This sensitiveness is believed to
have its seat in the ear of the ami
NAL, which has so small an opening
that it might almost have been made
with a pin. For years MeNab has held
firmly to this theory, only to be laugh
ed at for his pains. He has now
proved it beyond peradventure, and
has reaped the fruit of his persist
ence At one tide the other day he
secured sixty-nine of the animals on
the shoals of the Portneuf River, a
few miles below Tadoussac. and next
year will pursue operations there upon
a larger scale. He has secured a nine
year lease of the shoal from the gov
eminent Aad has apparently fortune
within easy reach. The skin and oil
from a single porpoise are worth
from $50 to $50.
The utmost caution has to be TAX
en- not to drive the animals sway
from their haunts. If any of the
blood or refuse of their dead is per-
mitted to reach the water, Mr.. Nc
Nab declares, they will desert the
place entirely. This is the explana-
ton he gives of the present absence
of porpoises from the River Ouelle
and other places on the banks of the
ST. Lawrence, where few years ago
many of them were annually killed
The porpoise, he says, is one of the
most intelligent animals created
New York Sun.
CONCENTRATION OF THE MIND.