DIFFERENT TRIBES OF MYSTICETE. 217 



when it can be accomplished, on the first approach 

 of danger ; but if unable to move about, they cut 

 canals or docks in the solid ice, into which they push 

 their ships, and generally preserve them in safety. 



That tribe of whales above mentioned, which are 

 seen in tlie spring and autumn of the year near 

 Hackluyt's Headland, are supposed by the Dutch 

 to be really inhabitants of the sea adjoining West 

 Greenland ; that they always retreat thither when- 

 ever the state of the ice will admit, and only appear 

 within the observance of the fishers, when the so- 

 lidity of the ice prevents their attaining those fa- 

 vourite situations, where they probably find the 

 most agreeable food *. 



The whales of lower latitudes, however, whose 

 food . lies near the eastern margin of the main 

 ice, when they enter the ice in JMay and June, 

 seem to exhibit an intention of evading their pur- 

 suers ; for in whatever manner they may retreat for 

 a while, they frequently return to the same or other 

 similar place accessible to the fishers. But after 

 the month of July, this tribe also penetrates so 

 deeply into the ice, that it gets beyond the reach 

 of its enemies. 



Ships, when drifted along with the ice to the 

 south-west, until they lose sight of the whales, en- 



* Bescliryving, &c. vol. i. p. 53. — As I liave never seen whales 

 in this situation in the aiitiunn myself, I give the information 

 entirely an the authority of the work here quoted. 



