GEOLOGY. 269 



Frozen Ocean, as well as the current from the Pacific into Behring's 

 Straits, all sources of supply, serve, in the opinion of Lieut. Maury, 

 to swell the current down from Baffin's Bay through Davis's Straits 

 into the Atlantic. 



That there was an open water communication, some times at least, 

 from Behring's Straits to Baffin's Bay, had been all but proved by the 

 results of investigations undertaken about ten years ago, at the Na- 

 tional Observatory, with regard to the habits, migrations, etc., of the 

 whale.* These investigations were conducted in such a manner as to 

 show, by a glance at the chart, in what parts of the ocean, and in 

 what months of the year, whales had and had not been seen. These 

 investigations soon led to the discovery, that to the Right Whale the 

 equator is a wall of fire ; that that animal is never found near it, sel- 

 dom or never within a thousand miles or more of it on either side. 

 This fact induced Lieut. Maury to inquire of the whalemen, whether 

 the Right Whale of the northern and of the southern hemispheres was 

 the same animal. The answer was " No." The Right Whale of the 

 latter region, as described by these men, is a small pale animal, the 

 largest scarcely yielding more than 50 barrels of oil. Whereas, that 

 of the northern region is a large dark animal, yielding frequently to 

 the single fish upwards of 200 barrels. About this time a w r hale ship 

 returned from a voyage through Behring's Straits, where she also 

 found the Right Whale of the North Pacific. This fact induced the 

 further inquiry, as to whether the Right Whale of Behring's Straits, 

 and the Right Whale of Davis's Straits was the same animal. For 

 since the fact has been established that the Right Whale of the North 

 Pacific could not cross the equator, and therefore could not get into 

 the North Atlantic by either of the Capes, a reply in the affirmative 

 to this inquiry would be another link in the chain of circumstantial 

 evidence going to prove the existence of a so-called Northwest Pas- 

 sage. The answer from the whalemen in this instance was, in effect, 

 " We have not had an opportunity of comparing the two animals, ex- 

 cept after long intervals, but, so far as we can judge, they are the 

 same fish." So far as the other facts go, it would appear probable 

 that there is, at times at least, an open water communication between 

 the two straits ; for the instincts of the whale, one might suppose, 

 would prevent him from sounding under icebergs, neither could he 

 pass under barriers of great depth or breadth. Seeing that water runs 

 through Behring's Straits from the Pacific, as well as round the 

 Capes, into the Atlantic, where, therefore, \vas the escape-current 

 from the Atlantic ? The trade-winds, Lieut. Maury was prepared to 

 show, were the great evaporating winds. They were the winds 

 which, returning from the polar regions, deprived of all the moisture 

 which the hyperborean dew-points could compress from them, first 

 came in contact with the surface of the earth, and consequently with 

 an evaporating surface, when they were first felt as trades, and where, 

 therefore, they were dry winds. Now could the vapor taken up by 

 these winds so increase the saltness of this sea in the trade-wind 



* See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1850, p. 158. 

 23* 



