The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1908-02-20
HUNT FOR THE WHALE.
Little Known About the Greatest of
Animals.


to escape the notice OF man, and moth.
ing can ultimately hope to avoid de-
struction, provided there Is money
in it,
The smallest known vertebrate,
a little fish of the lakes Of Luzon. Is
a staple article of food and the great
est OF backboned animals, the sui
phur-bottom whale, Is being syste-
matically swept out of existence, by
the most approved methods of de-
struction. One is more than three
billion times as large as the other.
but neither can escape the all-grasp-
Ing and all-powerful hand Of man.
The story of the whale fishery is an
old one, and long one. for whaling
has been prosecuted for upward of a
thousand years. At one time or an
other, 1t has been pursued by every
important maritime nation and in
ever part of the world where whales
were tc be found In important num-
bers
But the capture OF the larger
whales as a regular thing Is undoubt-
edly a comparatively modern ocupa-
tion, for none of the weapons of
primitive man Indicates that he ever
attacked anything larger than por-
poises or the white whale. although
the larger species have been taken oc-
caslonally.
1t has been suggested and
the suggestion is very like
ly correct, that whaling had ity
inception In the dead annals cast ~
on the beach. IT, vast store of oi'
provided by one of these monsters
naturally caused the fishermen tc
cast longing eyes on those sporting
at distance, and to actually attack
them was but step, although a long
one, for he was brave man who first
ventured to asail the largest of crea-
ture7.
The whale fishery may be said to
have travelled in a circle. It began
with shore whaling, and after the
la0se of centuries, has returned to
this method under changed condi-
tions and with modern methods and
appliances.
Stations are being established all
over the world wherever the condi-
tions are favorable Newfoundland
and the Gulf of st. Lawrence are
already dotted with them. They
rave been erected on the Pacific coast
and are to be placed on the Ber-
muGas.
If not already located in the south
ern hemispheres, they soon will be,
and even now humpbacks are taken
off New Zealand with wire nets.
1t Is probable that here again his
tory will repeat itself, that in few
years whales will have become 30
scarce, that the majority of whalers
will go out Of business, and that here
and there whales will slowly begin
to increase in numbers.
Meanwhile, 1t Is a curious fact that
though whales are so common In
many parts of the world and have
beer killed In great numbers for
centuries, comparatively little Is
known Of them and good pictures and
reliable information Of them are
scarce.
1t is case where the very size of
the animal makes its study difficult,
and those brought In closest contact,
have neither time nor ability, as a
rule, to avail themselves of their op-
portunities, and naturalists have
been obliged to depend on such speci-
mems as were washed ashore.
AS result Of this the numbers of
alleged species of whales were great
ly multiplied. for each specimen that
came ashore seemed to be just a lit
tie different from any other that had
been described, and SO a new name
was bestowed upon it.
And 1t is only within few years
that, as the result of many years Of
patient labor, DR.. Frederick William
True, head curator Of the department
Of biology of the United States Ma.
tional Museum, has been able to dis
entangle the species found alongsour
shores from the web of names in
which they were enveloped, and re.
duce them to few good species.
In the early days before a new
nature book was issued every other
day and works of natural history
contained SO much of fabulous lore
that conscientious librabrian might
be puzzled to. decide whether or not
to class them as works of fiction, we
find much misinformation in regard
to the leviathans.
Even modern text books give the
length of whales as anything up to
$50 feet, their weight as many tons
and their shape as almost anything,
The extreme length reached by the
sulphur-bottom or blue whale" the
largest animal that lives, or for that
matter ever lived, is about IS feet.
Among the things modern whale
fishing has done has been to make IL
possible for museums to exhibit these
huge animals 80 that visitors may OBJ.
tain a correct dea of their size and
appearance and really know them
better than those who go down to the