The present native uses of this remarkable oil, which has yet to find its way into general commerce, are almost confined to its admixture with the pigments employed by the Indians and Mestizos of the peninsula of Yucatan, and in the vicinity of Vera Cruz, for adorning small house hold articles ; it is also kept as a drug by the apothecaries of Yucatan, and is generally employed as a drying oil. In the industrial arts, its drying solution in turpentine will make it valuable to artists ; it remarkably brightens colours prepared with it. Of greater commercial importance, perhaps, is the resinous varnish which it affords when treated as described above. The turpentine solution of nfin-oil renders even the most porous filter-paper absolutely impervious to water. Artioles to be waterproofed with it might be saturated in the solution, and then heated in an oven till the grease volatilizes. The coating then defies most solvents of oils.
(FR., Huile de Belouga, de Marsouin).—The term " porpoise-oil " embraces the oils obtained from the black porpoise (Delphinus phocarna [Phoccena communis]), the white whale (Beluga catodon [Phoccena leuca, Delphinapterus leucas]), the grampus (Phocana orca), and the black-fish, which last name is very variously bestowed (see Blackfish-oil, p. 1361).
The first is very abundant in the Atlantic, and is found in considerable numbers in the Medi terranean and Black Sea. Its systematic pursuit is carried on by the natives of Lazistan, who generally take it in nets, but occasionally shoot it. This fishery has its centre at Trebizond, and commonly affords 700,000 lb. of oil in a year. A portion is used locally for illuminating purposes, and the remainder finds a ready sale. The quantities exported by steamer from Trebizonde in 1878 were :-1400 cwt., 17501., to Constantinople ; 524 cwt., 655/., to Austria and Germany ; 514 cwt., 642/., to Russia ; total, 2438 cwt., 3047/. Large schools of porpoises are met with on the Danish coasts, and frequently 1500-2000 are caught in the Little Belt.
This creature and the white whale are taken together in great numbers in the St. Lawrence, Canada, and occasionally in the Bay of Chaleur, parts of New Brunswick, and the Hudson Bay territories. They are surrounded by enclosures made of light flexible poles driven into the beach, within which they are speared and harpooned from boats. In the bays of the Polar Sea, on the coast of Karlin, near Meson, in the White Sea, and at the mouths of the Petschora, they are killed most numerously by harpoons in June-July, whole fleets of boats being engaged. The full-grown animal attains a weight of 2500-3500 lb., and gives some 400-450 lb. of oil, which is more esteemed than that of either the seal or the walrus. The oil is inodorous, and gives a brilliant light ; it congeals only in intense cold, and its softness renders it valuable for lubricating and leather dressing.
The oil from the bead of the grampus is thought to be a superior lubricator to any yet obtained from the porpoise and the black-fish. This cetacean occurs much more rarely than either of the animals just described.
and (FR., Huile de Sardine, de Louar). —Several species of sardine afford an abundance of oil. The ordinary sardine (Clupea Sardinus) of the Mediterranean is too important
as a food-fish to be generally sacrificed for its oil, yet a large quantity of the latter is made from damaged and refuse fish. More important as oil-producers are the louar (C. Neohowii), C. lemurs, and C. palasah, of the Indian and Malayan Seas. They are migratory, reaching the shares in immense shoals in August- September, and becoming sufficiently fat in October-November. They are taken in nets, and treated with boiling water to separate the oil, the exports of which, from Cochin, sometimes amount to 150,000 cwt. in a year.
(Fa., Huile de Phogue; GER., Seehunds61).—The principal species of seal are Phoca fatida, P. vitulina, P. barbata, P. annclata, P. groenlandica, and Cystophora cristata. Phoca caspica is found only in the Caspian Sea, where it is bunted for the sake of its oil, which is consumed in Russia. All the other species are widely distributed throughout the north polar regions of both hemispheres, and their chase, for the value of their oil and skin, forms the most important branch of the so-called "Arctic fishery," extending from Iceland eastwards to Scandinavia, along the northern coast of Russia, especially about the mouths of the Dvina and Mesen, and the eastern shores of the White Sea, across to Alaska, throughout the bays and inlets of arctic America, and on the coasts of Greenland and Spitzbergen.
Newfoundland may be considered the centre of the seal districts, and stands foremost on the list in point of production. The species chiefly resorting to this coast are the two largest—the hooded seal (Cystophora [Stemnatopus] cristata), and the harp seal (Phoca groenlandica). Their whelps are born in January-February on the Labrador ice-fields, and this " whelping ice " is floated south wards, and appears off the Newfoundland coast after the middle of March. The young seals, not taking to the water till they are three months old, are easily caught ; their skins are stripped off with the blubber attached, and the carcases are left on the ice. The produce is sorted into five qualities young harp," "old harp," "young hood," " bedlamer " (1-year-old hood), and "old hood " ; the most rich in oil is "young harp." The average take of successful vessels is about 2000 seals, though it sometimes reaches 8000, and, in extraordinary seasons, individual ships have secured 10,000-20,000. Out of 400 vessels yearly engaged in sealing, not more than 60 make remunerative voyages. It is thus a speculation rather than a steady industry. So soon as the vessels have disembarked their first cargo, they start on a second hunt. This time they rarely take many young seals, as these have escaped to the water by about the 1st April ; but they pursue the old ones, sometimes shooting them on the ice " pans," sometimes finding a herd cut off from the sea, and knocking them on head with clubs. The exports of seal-oil from Newfoundland have risen from 1605 tuns, value 76,247/., in 1864, to 5905 tuns, value 147,625/., in 1878 ; in 1871, they reached 6943 tuns, value 202,504/.