FISHING IN CPtOAVDED ICE. 267 



ncr as when under more favourable circumstances ; 

 excepting so far as the obstruction which the quah- 

 ty and arrangement of the ice may offer, to the re- 

 gular system of proceeding. Among crowded ice, 

 for instance, the precise direction pursued by the 

 fish is not easily ascertained, nor can the fish itself 

 be readily discovered on its first arrival at the sur- 

 face, after being struck, on account of the elevation 

 of the intervening masses of ice, and the great quan- 

 tity of line it frequently takes from the ftist-boat. 

 Success in such a situation, depends on the boats 

 being spread widely abroad, and on a judicious ar- 

 rangement of each boat ; on a keen look-out on 

 the part of the harpooners in the boats, and on their 

 occasionally taking the benefit of a hummock of 

 ice, from the elevation of which the fish may some- 

 times be seen *' blowing" in the interstices of the 

 ice ; on pushing or rowing the boats with the great- 

 est imaginable celerity, towards the place where the 

 fish may have been seen ; and, lastly, on the exer- 

 cise of the highest degree of activity and disj)atch, 

 in every proceeding. 



If these means be neglected, the fish will gener- 

 ally have taken its breath, recovered its strength, 

 and removed to some other quarter, before the ar- 

 rival of the boats ; and it is often remarked, that if 

 there be one part of the ice more crowded or more 

 difficult of access than another, it commonly retreats 

 thither for refuge. In such cases, the sailors find much 

 difficulty in getting to it with their boats, having; 



