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Show NEW METHODS IN " WHALING Old-Fashioned Harpoon Has Been Discarded Dis-carded for the Most Modern of Deadly Weapons. In early days the wooden sailing ships engaged in the whaling industry indus-try in southern seas pursued only right whales and sperm whales, or cachalots. The so-called "tinners," such as the blue whale, the largest animal in the world; the finner whale; the small fish whale; and the humpback, hump-back, were all too active, and sank too quickly when killed. But their turn has now come, for the modern whale gun is a finely fashioned cannon, the harpoon carries a shell, and the body of the whale is kept afloat by inflating it with air through pipes from the engine room of the whaler. The rendering ren-dering is now done in a factory on shore, or in a special large vessel moored in the harbor. Besides the whalebone, which no longer pays well or at all, and the oil, which is graded into qualities as it comes from the blubber, the fat of the tongue and kidneys, kid-neys, the flesh and bones and the refuse, there remain the dried flesh and bones, which are now also put to commercial use. The absolutely fresh flesh is used to make whale-meat meal, a nutritious and wholesome foodstuff that is largely fed to cattle. From the remaining flesh aud about a third of the bones whale guano is made, and from the bones alone bone meal. The largest whaling business in the world is now conducted in the Falkland islands is-lands and their dependencies. The season begins in November, and lasts until the end of April, and the average aver-age production of oil is nearly half a million barrels; of guano. 8,375 tons. The industry gives employment to about 3,500 men. Youth's Companion. |