400 



NATURAL SCIENCE 



[June 



open waters and floes. It might be expected that at this time they 

 would be met with by the vessels which, in the months of March and 

 April, search the ice-edge for the young seals, usually to be found to 

 the north-east of Jan May en, between 70° and 73° N. latitude 

 and 1° to 4° E. longitude, in accordance with the lie of the ice ; 

 but as the whales keep well within the margin of the ice they are 

 rarely seen en route at that time ; when seen, however, they are 

 always passing northward. Large numbers of these ' spring 



migrants' were observed by some Dutch sailors who wintered on 

 the Island of Jan Mayen in 1633-4; they first appeared off the 

 island on the 27th of March, and were seen almost daily in larger or 

 smaller numbers till the end of April ; the poor fellows did not 

 survive to tell the sad tale which their diary disclosed. The next 

 appearance of the whales is on the north-west fishing ground in 

 about the latitude of Prince Charles' Foreland, where they are met 

 with by the whalers in the middle of May, and continue in their 

 summer resort till the end of June, awaiting it is presumed the 

 breaking up of some ice-barrier which bars their further passage. 



