rs are from nine to twelve months absent on the voyage; of
course, they are not at hand on any sudden emergency, and are even
liable to be taken, before they know that war is begun. It must be
added, on the subject of this whale, that he is rare and shy, soon
abandoning the grounds where he is hunted. This fishery, less losing
than the other, and often profitable, will occasion it to be so
thronged, soon, as to bring it on a level with the other. It will then
require the same expensive support, or to be abandoned.

2. The Greenland whale-oil is next in quality. It resists coagulation
by cold, to thirty-six degrees of Fahrenheit, and two of Reaumur, but it
has a smell insupportable within doors, and is not luminous. It sells,
therefore, in London, at about sixteen pounds the ton. This whale is
clumsy and timid; he dives when struck, and comes up to breathe by the
first cake of ice, where the fishermen need little address or courage
to find and take him. This is the fishery mostly frequented by European
nations; it is this fish which yields the fin in quantity, and the
voyages last about three or four months.

The third quality is that of the small Brazil whale. He was originally
found on the coast of Nantucket, and first led that people to this
pursuit: he retired, first to the Banks of Newfoundland, then to the
Western Islands, and is now found within soundings on the coast of
Brazil, during the months of December, January, February, and March. His
oil chills at fifty-two degrees of Fahrenheit, and eight of Reaumur, is
black and offensive; worth, therefore, but thirteen pounds the ton,
in London. In warm summer nights, however, it burns better than the
Greenland oil.

To the qualities of the oils thus described, it is to be added, that an
individual has discovered methods, 1. of converting a great part of
the oils of the spermaceti-whale, into the solid substance called
spermaceti, heretofore produced from his head alone; 2. of refining
the Greenland whale-oil, so as to take from it all smell, and render it
limpid and luminous as that of the spermaceti-whale; 3. of curdling
the oil of the Brazil whale into tallow, resembling that of beef, and
answering all its purposes. This person is engaged by the company, which
has established the refinery at Rouen: their works will cost them half a
million of livres; will be able to refine all the oil which can be used
in the kingdom, and even to supply foreign markets. The effect