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C.O. 885

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APPENDISER.

The practised whaler seas immediately from the " spout "whether it is a humpback which is before him. The humpback blows, namely, a short and broad jet, which often swells out aloft like a bush. The "spout" can be heard at a great distance, since it resembles a kind of hooting or roaring. Its motion during inspira tion and expiration is described in Professor Collett's book on Norwegian mammals thus:-"When it wants to breathe it ascends obliquely, and at the moment when the nostrils appear above the water it spouts. In the next instant inspiration happens. During this the nostrils are expanded, so that they become almost ellip- tical, and their margins are somewhat elevated. If it intends to remain a long time below it now goes down nearly vertically into the deep. As the head disappears the body rises, showing itself above the water as a bow, until at last the dorsal fin becomes visible. After that the hind parts are bent under the water, the caudal fin is drawn out, and at last appears for a moment above the water, when the whale quite disappears. If the humpback goes down without showing the caudal flukes the direction is oblique, and it comes rapidly to the surface again."

When the humpback has been long below it spouts as a rule several times in quick succession, after which it likes to go down again for a longer stay. It is usually assumed that it cannot remain below for more than twenty to twenty-five minutes.

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While certain whalers, as mentioned above, assume that the humpback only young in alternate years, others assume that it has, as a rule, young each year. In support of this the whalers who operate at South Shetland mention that there they very rarely catch female humpbacks which are not pregnant. With regard to this it must, however, be observed that one, especially in former years, since only the blubber of the whales was used, did not make such minute examinations, and even to-day such investigations are certainly not quite common. The pairings must in this case have happened shortly after the birth of the young.

In our northern seas a number of inquiries have been instituted with the object of casting light upon the propagation of the humpback.

It appears that only the larger females with a length of about 45 ft. and over -have been pregnant. At one and the same moment one has found in some nearly ripe fœtuses, while in others the embryos have been quite small, which shows that the pairings must take place at times not a little irregular.

We have a series of measurements of humpback fœtuses dating from the time of the Finmark whale-fishery.

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A fœtus examined in the latter half of May was 70 mm. long. In June the length was 280-340 mm. In June (sic-a misprint for July) 210-600 mm. measurement made on 21st August shows a length of nearly two metres (Collett).

Twin fœtuses are rarer with humpbacks than with other large Cetacea, even if they exist at all.* Thus, from the southern whaling-grounds no such case has come to the ears of the author, and from our own coasts no case has been determined with certainty. However, in June, 1886, a female followed by two calves was seen outside Vardö.

The period of gestation can be estimated with predominant certainty at about eleven months.

The humpback is on the average very fat in proportion to its size. The thick- ness of the layer of blubber varies as a matter of course, according to the season and place of residence. In particular years also the whale schools are on the average far fatter than in other years.

The humpback has in recent years been caught in disturbingly large numbers at our southern whaling stations. On the grounds at South Georgia and South Shetland it has thus now for some years been caught in thousands of examples each season. Since the chase began on the coasts of Africa it is also, when on its breed- ing migration, caught in great numbers. No wonder therefore that the humpback stock ceases to return. The majority of whaling managers and markamen on the southern fields were thus in agreement that it now last season occurred in con- siderably less numbers than formerly. This appears in a higher degree to have been the case this summer on the coasts of East Africa. The heavy toll levied has here already noticeably affected the stock.

However that may be, the humpback still exists in very large numbers, and it will certainly contribute for a further series of years to make the Norwegian whaling industry a profitable business.

* See, however, Olsen, Appendix III., p. 185.

APPENDICES.

APPENDIX III.

185

SINCE Submitting this report I have become acquainted with three important papers which I think ought to be referred to.

The first of these is "The Whale Fisheries of the Worid," by Charles Rabot (Smithsonian Report for 1913, page 481: translated from La Nature, Paris, 14th September, 1912). At page 481 it is stated that "not less than 20,000 cetaceans are captured every year, so that the disappearance of these great marine mammals in the near future seems certain."

With regard to South Georgia it is said, at page 486: "The sulphur-bottoms and common finbacks are both very abundant, but, because they are more combative and more difficult to kill, they are less disturbed. When the supply of humpbacks diminishes their turn will come."

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Should restrictive regulations be imposed in the future it is possible that some of the companies might put forward claims to compensation. In this connexion the following paragraph may be worthy of consideration: In conclusion we may add that this industry does not require very large capital. The funds of the large Nor- wegian companies scarcely exceed one-and-a-half million francs, and when a rich whaling ground happens to be found the profits become enormous. In two years a company with a capital of 910,000 francs installed at South Georgia twice distri- buted a dividend of 130 per cent., besides adding a portion of the profit to various reservé funds and increasing the company's resources 60 per cent."

The two other papers referred to are: (1) "Hvaler og hvalfangst i Sydafrika," by Ørjan Olsen (Bergen Museums Aarbok, 1914-15, No. 5), and (2) "Untersuchungen an Walen (Tl. 2)," by W. Kükenthal (Jenaische Zeitsch. Naturw., 51, 1914, page 1). Herr Olsen went out to Africa as the guest of Johann Bryde, the whaling pioneer, and he has given us, in the paper cited, the first systematic account of the African whales which has yet appeared. Professor Kükenthal describes the foetuses of southern humpbacks brought back from Africa by Olsen, together with some others from South Georgia. I have not had time to make a complete translation of Olsen's paper, but the following notes will give the pith of it so far as it bears on the subjects of this report. In dealing with the humpback fœtuses I have incorporated the results obtained by Kükenthal.

Notes made from Olsen's paper :-

In 1909 J. Bryde sent the old whaler "Neptune" and the floating factory 'Vale" to Saldanha Bay. Next year he, Egelund, and Lars Iversen built a station at Durban and then another at Saldanha Bay. About the same time Ingebrigtsen started at Benguela, Port Alexandra. Catch: humpbacks.

Glowing reports quickly spread to Norway. Many enterprises, often without sufficient knowledge of whaling circumstances and localities, were started, and an intense whaling began from the Congo round the coast right up to Angoche in East Africa. Foreigners joined in; the interest became a fever, and a foolish competition began. There were twenty-five companies in 1912, of which no fewer than four were in Durban.

At most places land-stations were built, and such enterprises as these swallowed vast capital. Some saving was gained, certainly, by the use of cheap native labour; but the long transport to and from Norway was very costly, and an enormous produc- tion was necessary before each station could support itself.

The catch was principally based on humpbacks; this species is a pronounced migrant, and according to the experience of other whaling grounds it may be very variable in its occurrence.

One thought that its path struck Africa at the southern extremity and that the species took its way thence northwards to the breeding-places along the east and west coasts. This did not prove well founded, because the companies stationed on the south coast found only a few humpbacks there, and they thus immediately came into a difficult position.

When the humpbacks failed to appear over great stretches in 1912—probably because of abnormal temperature and unfavourable planktonic conditions there ensued a great set-back. From the brightest optimism one sank into the blackest pessimism, and the shares of the African companies fell with tearing haste. The east coast north of Durban was deserted by all except one-the Mozambique Whaling Company: many of the unsoundly based companies were dissolved, and the remainder collected themselves on the coast around Congo and Benguela, where the humpbacks

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