ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub
[graphic][merged small]

THE

YOUTHS' MAGAZINE;

OR,

EVANGELICAL MISCELLANY.

MAY, 1848.

SHETLAND WHALE HUNT.

When God had formed man in his own image, he blessed him, and he said, "Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth on the earth" (Gen. i. 28). By this, it was probably intended, that man was at liberty to make all the lower animals subservient to his necessity or

convenience.

We need not at present enquire what was the amount of service that Adam, in a state of innocence, was intended by God to derive from the creatures in earth, air, and sea, since for many purposes of food and clothing it would appear they were not to be required. All we know is, that though the first man disobeyed the just command of his Creator, yet the grant of sovereignty over the animals was not withdrawn, but, on the contrary, was renewed to Noah in still more ample and unlimited terms.

Accordingly, man is still undisputed lord and vicegerent of his Creator over the brutal tribes: he subjects the mightiest of them to his service, such as the elephant and

K

the camel; while others, again, useful or inimical, he overpowers and destroys. Would that we could say, he does this only as necessity and humanity dictate!

It must be truly wonderful to witness the elephant, terrific and fierce in its native woods, so overawed by even the first contact with the comparatively puny strength of man, as to crouch, cowed and subdued, and at once yield up his gigantic powers to the control of one, whom, by a single stroke, he could crush to death, thus fulfilling that promise, "the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea: into your hand are they delivered.”—(Gen. ix. 2).

The same remark may be illustrated, when we witness also the ease with which men render tributary the " Leviathan of the great deep." Not requiring its services in the element which is its proper home, we have yet discovered that we need its produce when dead, and therefore we search for, and take its life; and in no more striking point of view can we contemplate the superiority which, by means of speech and reason, man is able to exert over the brutes, than when we see him encounter and subdue a physical force so incomparably vaster than any that he could exert, thus at once proving and asserting his divinely delegated dominion.

Our young readers are doubtless aware that every year many large ships are sent from Britain to the Polar Seas in search of the largest species of the whale tribe, which are from fifty to seventy feet in length, and of the value sometimes of some hundred pounds. Some striking narratives of danger and escape during these voyages have been given. One of these, most to the point at present, states, that a gigantic whale ran with force against a ship, in the absence of most of her crew, with the boats, engaged in the chase of another-the bows of the vessel were staved by the stroke, when the animal, lashed apparently into ungovernable rage, after recoiling a little, dashed again at the devoted ship, which was thus broken in two, and the few men remaining in her, had hardly time to take to a boat, when she sank. Rarely one of these enormous creatures wanders towards the British coasts, and getting embayed among the hoals, is captured by many hands, eager to share in a prize so

valuable. About twenty-five years ago, a whale of this description, in the course of a very preposterous (as we might say) and mal à propos excursion, ran itself aground in one of the small Shetland bays-being unable to turn, and the tide ebbing, it was soon destroyed. It lay like an island in five fathoms of water, and could be ascended only by means of ladders from the boats-its jaw bones, thirty feet in height, form an appropriate arch over the entrance gate of a gentleman's residence in the immediate vicinity.

But there is a much smaller species of this animal, which is gregarious, and roams in vast herds over the Northern Seasthese are called the "Bottle-nose" or "Ca'ing Whale." The latter designation is given from their capability of being driven, just like a flock of poor sheep to the slaughter. In the Orkney and Shetland islands, flocks of these animals are discovered on the coast, and driven by various expedients into the bays, till they are beset and bewildered-they appear always to follow one of the largest and most powerful of the herd as a leader; the object then is to cause him to rush on his fate, which, when he finds the water shallowing, he almost invariably does, and running on shore, the whole flock follow headlong. A whale hunt is a most surprising and exciting spectacle, and, while we cannot but lament the fate of the gentle and harmless creatures, we feel that we owe thanks to the Giver of all our comforts for providing so liberal a supply of artificial light, as that afforded by their oil, to enliven our long winter evenings; and the value of what is not so required at home is to the fishermen a considerable addition to their scanty resources.

A few months since, the crew of a small boat engaged in fishing early on a calm dull morning after some very tempestuous weather, caught a glimpse of a shoal of Bottle-nose whales, and immediately gave the alarm at the nearest point of land. The welcome news was soon spread, and many boats full of men and lads hastened to the scene. There appeared to be no less than a thousand in the herd: they were gambolling in unsuspicious. safety and freedom, the mothers chasing and watching over their young with the greatest tenderness, and, as is the case with most gregarious animals, several wary sentinels were on the watch; though one might enquire what foe could approach worthy of being

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »