DIFFERENT TRIBES OF MYSTICETE. 213 



stated intervals, for being able to meet v.itb them 

 at all ; though the coast of Spitzbergen may possi- 

 bly possess a powerful attraction to the mysticete, by 

 affording them a greater abimdance of palatable food 

 than the interior western waters, covered perpetu- 

 ally by the ice. From this necessity of respiring 

 in the air, we may account for their appearance in 

 tiie open sea in the early part of the spring. The 

 ice at this season, connected by the winter's frost, 

 is probably so consolidated, as to prevent the whales 

 from breathing among it, excepting \vithin so much 

 of its confines as may be broken by the violence of the 

 sea in storms. After the dissolution of the continuity 

 of the ice, by north, north-west, or west winds, they 

 find sufficient convenience for respiration in the in- 

 terior, and often retreat thither to the great disadvan- 

 tage of the whalers. In such cases, if the formation of 

 bay ice, or the continuity of the border of the heavy 

 ice, prevents the ships from following, the whales 

 completely escape their enemies, until the relaxation 

 of the frost permits an entrance. 



It is not vmcommon, however, for an adult tribe 

 of whales to resort partially to the open sea, between 

 the latitudes of 76° and 79", during the months of 

 May and June, and though more rarely, during the 

 early part of July, when, at length, they suddenly 

 betake themselves to the ice and disappear altoge- 

 ther. 



