CAUSES OF SUCCESS IX THE FISHERY. 33f 



served to be at rest, but invariably in motion, as if 

 they were in the act of performing a journey to 

 some other place. In the cloudy green sea, on the 

 other hand, they were observed to halt, and gene- 

 rally made it their home, as it were, during a pe- 

 riod of several days or weeks. At length, early in 

 the month of July, they totally disappeared from the 

 green-coloured sea likewise, and retreated to some 

 other situation, unknown to the fishers, to which, 

 though the ice was generally open and navigable at 

 the time, it v/as found to be almost impossible to 

 trace them. The general conduct of whales, after 

 being struck, was in this season peculiar. Instead 

 of immediately descending to the depth of near a 

 mile, they frequently never went down at all ; and 

 those which did descend, after receiving the har- 

 poon, seldom proceeded more than 200 to 300 yards 

 below the surface. The year referred to, (1817,) 

 was what the fishers call an open season, to distin- 

 guish that state of the country, when the ice lies 

 remote from Spitzbergen, from the close season, 

 when the country is nearly full of ice. 



The fislicry of open seasons is more uncertain 

 than that of close seasons. In the former, the fish- 

 er has but little dependance on any certain place 

 for affording whales ; but, in the latter, whenever 

 the barrier of ice is passed, he has the fullest confi- 

 dence of meeting with tliem, near the borders of 



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