The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-07-29

No true sportsman fond OF big
game will ever regret summer spent
with the Newfoundland whalers. Lion
hunting in Africa and tiger stalking
in India both doubtless have their
dangers and destinations, but whaling
even if the participant is only spec
tator. has an excitement and uncer-
tainty about it all it's own that fingers
in the memory a long time.
The whale is a mammal and not a
fish. that is to say, it is a warm-blood-
ed animal which breathes air instead
of water, browns if submerged too
long. brings forth its young alive and
nourishes it with milk from its own
body. The largest of the family is
the sulphur-bottom whale. Specimens
measuring ninety-seven feet in length
have been killed Such a creature
would weigh 10 to 1873 tons. A fair
number of these creatures still exist
in the Pacific Ocean, though they are
now being killed off very rapidly.
They have been saved hitherto be-
cause of their swifmess in the water
and the comparative small yield Of
whalebone.
Then there is the bowhead, also
called the Greenland or polar whale,
which inhabits the waters round the
north pole. This species is now very
scarce. 1t attains a length Of from
forty.fve to ffty-five feet, and is un-
commonly rich in both whalebone and
oil. A good specimen will yield as
much as 275 barrels of oil and 5000
pounds of whalebone.
The world has no idea of the var
led uses to which the whale is now
but by the enterprising Newfound-
landers. The laminae which fringe
his mouth become the "whalebone' of
commerce.; the fatty coat which in
cases his body is converted into high
grade oil; the choicest portions of the
meat which forms his carcass are
transmitted into human food; his
great bony skeleton is scaled and
steamed and made into unbreakable
crockeryware; less valuable flesh is
is turned into extract of beef, liquid
and solid; the blood and juices are
manufactured into glue; the milk of
the female is used in making con
densed milk, and all the refuse be,
comes a fertilizer An adult whale
yields about $4,000 pounds of edible
meat.
Norway and Newfoundland, on eact
side of the Atlantic, are the only
places in the world where whaling 10y
modern methods is carried on. The
big fish" are hunted" not by row
boats, but by clipper steamships
small but speedy craft of 100 tons
with twin screws, and able to maxi
thirteen knots. They can turn il
their own length so as to dodge tn
enraged whales which attack then
when harpooned, and their speed
necessary to fit them for chasing tn
unwieldy creatures as they gambC
about in the waves. Instead of tn
harpoon cast from a mans hand, a
formerly, a bomb-lance is fired frol
a cannon on the steamers bow, whic
is filled with explosive matter, tha
discharges through a time-fuse.
explodes inside the whales body, S
that the fish" dies almost instantl
But if it misses a vital part the il
Jury is not fatal, and the whale ms
linger for hours, until another SHE
is fred into it to give the quietus,
In fine weather it is not uncommc
for a steamer to kill three or four
day, which she buoys up as the
die, and secures in the evening, to-
ing them to land, where the factorir
or refneries are established in whic
the creatures are converted into col
mercial products.
On one occasion the Viking, one