410 NATURAL SCIENCE [June 



us, appearing to be quite indifferent to the presence of the ship " ; 

 also on the 20th "many whales," and on the 21st two "large 

 whales," and finally in 70^ 54^ K on the 22nd a " large whale," after 

 which I do not find mention of any others being seen. Markham, 

 whose journey extended to Cape Garry ,^ says the whales were all 

 heading along the Inlet to the G-ulf of Boothia, where Captain Adams 

 had at one time thought of following them through Fury-and-Hecla 

 Strait and Fox Channel, or through Frozen Strait into Hudson 

 Strait, an intention he unfortunately abandoned ; but he evidently 

 had a shrewd idea that such was the course taken by the whales. 

 Ross, in the appendix to his second voyage, mentions that the 

 natives of Boothia told him the Right Whale " is rarely seen either 

 on the east or west side of the Isthmus . . . only two were seen by 

 us during the three years we were frozen up in that neighbourhood." 

 This seems to indicate that they cross the head of the Gulf to the 

 unexplored coast of Cockburn Island and pass through Fury-and- 

 Hecla Strait, for Dr Richardson tells us, in the appendix to Parry's 

 Second Voyage (p. 336), that they are frequently seen near the 

 shores of Melville Peninsula, in Frozen Strait, and in Hudson Strait ; 

 whilst at p. 510 of the narrative of the same voyage, it is stated that 

 the natives meet with most whales on the coast of Eiwillick, where 

 the Hudson Bay Company once carried on a whale-fishery, but had 

 then (1825) abandoned it for some years. It is worthy of note, as 

 indicating the direction in which the whales were travelling,that during 

 Parry's stay off the coast of Melville Peninsula the only month in 

 which he saw these animals was August, and the earliest dates are in 

 localities farthest north; thus, about the 5th of August (1822) they 

 saw Black Whales off the east entrance to Fury-and-Hecla Strait ; on 

 the I7th of August (1821) a " great number " of Black Whales were 

 seen playing about the beach off Frozen Strait; on the 22nd more- 

 were seen in Repulse Bay ; and on the 28th of August three Black 

 Whales were seen off Rouse Island in Hurd Channel ; these latter 

 were probably on passage to Rowe's Welcome. No whales were 

 seen going north in the earlier part of the year, and indeed the late 

 date at which the ice breaks up in these narrow straits would render 

 it quite impossible for them to be used by the whales on their spring 

 passage north, and it is not unlikely that this is one of the reasons 

 for their going north by Davis Strait. 



We have thus traced the whales through Lancaster Sound into 

 Prince Regent's Inlet, have found them abundant in the neighbour- 

 hood of Cresswell Bay and Bellot Strait, rare on the east coast of 

 Boothia, owing, it is suggested, to their crossing the Gulf at this point 



1 It is wortliy of mention that the ' Arctic ' killed an old female and a small 

 male whale at this spot on August 9th and 11th respectively, during which month 

 they are not often met with in Lancaster Sound. 



