326 Voyage of the Novara. 



whalers, who seemed hunting that most valuable of all the in- 

 habitants of the deep, of the spots frequented by which Maury*s 

 renowned Whale Charts have lately supplied so interesting and 

 useful a code of instruction. These charts, which are based 

 on a vast number of observations, of the tracts of ocean and 

 seasons of the year at which whales are most frequently seen, 

 will at the same time greatly tend to a solution of the question 

 as to the migration of these enormous mammals ; for it has 

 never yet been settled, whether these animals flee from the 

 pursuit of man to remote seas, thus continually constraining 

 their pursuers to seek their prey in new waters, or whether, (as 

 is the most prevalent opinion), they are always entirely extir- 

 pated from one locality, and accordingly are only to be met 

 with in any numbers in some different area, in which man has 

 as yet only rarely, if ever, disturbed them.* 



After an hour-and-a-half of continuous rowing, and when, 

 in our very unsuitable boat, we had got about 7 nautical miles 

 distant from the frigate, we at last found a smooth spot between 

 two reefs, which projected above the level of the sea like a 

 breakwater, and at once let go the boat's anchor. A regular 

 landing-place, however, was not to be hoped for at this point. 

 It was necessary first to make a spring to a block of rock, and 

 thence, picking one's way among stones rendered slippery by 

 being covered at flood-tide, endeavour to reach the beach. 



* Some very valuable aucl detailed particulars of the \\liale fishery are to be found 

 in Maury's incomparable work, " The Pliysical Geogi'aphy of tlie Ocean,'' and in 

 Dr. Hartwigs' " Popular Treatise on Animated Natiu-e in the Ocean. (Frankfort- 

 on-the-Main, 1855.) " 



