WHALE-FISHERY. 155 



deep bays or bights, and sometimes for clear water 

 situations; occasionally for detached streams of drift 

 ice; and most generally, for extensive sheets of bay 

 ice. Bay ice is a very favourite retreat of the 

 whales, so long as it continues sufficiently tender 

 to be conveniently broken, for the purpose of respi- 

 ration. In such situations, whales may frequently 

 be seen in amazing numbers, elevating and break- 

 ing the ice with their crowns,* where they are ob- 

 served to remain much longer at rest than when 

 seen in open water, or in the clear interstices of the 

 ice, or indeed in almost any other situation. 



Description of the boats and principal instruments used 

 in the capture of the whale. 



Whale-boats are, of course, peculiarly adapted 

 for the occupation they are intended to be employ- 

 ed in. A well constructed '** Greenland boat," pos- 

 sesses the following properties. It floats lightly 

 and safely on the water, — is capable of being row- 

 ed with great speed, and readily turned round, — it 

 is of such capacity that it carries six or seven men, 

 seven or eight hundred weight of whale-lines, and 

 various other materials, and yet retains the necessa- 

 ry properties of safety, buoyancy, and speed, either 

 in smooth water, or where it is exposed to a con- 

 siderable sea. Whale-boats being very liable to 

 receive damage, both from whales and ice, are al- 



* The eminence on the head of the whale, in which the 

 blow-holes are situated, is thus called, 



