FISHERY OF DIFFERENT LATITUDES^. Wf 



be accomplighed at a \evy early period, where large 

 whales are generally at this season to he found. 



SECT. III. 



Observations on the Fishery of different Latitudes 

 and Seasons, and under different ci^rumstances 

 of lee, if'ind, and Weather. 



It is not yet ascertained, what is the earliest pe- 

 riod of the year, in which it is possible to fish for 

 wlialcs. The danger attending the navigation, a- 

 midst massive drift ice in the obscurity of night, is 

 the most formidable objection against attempting 

 the fishery before the middle of the month of April, 

 when the sun having entered the northern tropic, 

 begins to enlighten the Polar regions throughout 

 the twenty-four hours. Severity of frost, prevalence 

 of storms, and frequency of thick weather, arising 

 from snow and frost rime, are the usual concomi- 

 tants of the spring of the year ; and these, wlien 

 combined with the darkness incident to night, a 

 tempestuous sea, and crowded ice, must probably 

 produce as liigli a degree of horror in the mind 

 of the navigator, wlio is unhappily subjected to their 

 distressfrU influence, as any combination of circum- 

 stances which the imagination can present. 



