IM AVIIALE-FISHEllY. 



Baffin's Bay was suggested as an excellent fish- 

 ing station, by the voyager whose name it l>ear3, so 

 early as tlie year I6l6, when his memorable navi- 

 gation was performed, Baffin, in a letter pu- 

 blished by Purchas *, addressed to J. Wostcnholm, 

 Esq. one of tlie gentlemen who shared in the ex- 

 pence of the expedition, remarks the probability of 

 profit which might be derived from future voyages 

 to this Bay as a fishing station, observing, that 

 great numbers of whales occur in the bay, and easy 

 to be struck ; and though ships cannot reach the 

 proper places until toward the middle of July, 

 " yet they may well tarry till the last of August, in 

 which space much business may be done, and good 

 store of oil made." 



To this situation, where the whales have never been 

 molested, until two yexirs ago, it appears they still 

 resort in the same manner, and in similar numbers, 

 as in the time of Baffin. In 1817, two or three of 

 the Davis' Straits whalers proceeded through the 

 Straits into Baffin's [Bay to a much greater length 

 than they were in the habit of adventuring ; where, 

 in the month of July and August, they found the 

 sea clear of ice, and in some parts abounding with 

 whales. A Leith ship, which it appears advanced 

 the farthest, made a successful fishery, in latitude 

 76°-77°, after the season when it was usual for 



* Vol. iii. p. 843. 



