412 NATURAL SCIENCE [June 



of Bo'ness was lost in Davis Strait " thirty-seven years ago " ; the 

 whale must therefore have frequented Davis Strait for at least thirty- 

 seven years. 



It is an open question Avhether an interchange of inhabitants 

 ever takes place between the regions lying to the east and west of 

 Greenland, and, if so, by what route it is effected. Dr Brown is 

 strongly of opinion that the whales of Spitzbergen never as a body 

 visit Davis Strait. Sir William Flower, in a lecture delivered at 

 the Royal Colonial Institute,^ says that " though found on both sides 

 of Greenland, and passing freely from one side to the other, it is 

 never found so far south as Cape Farewell." Whilst quite agreeing 

 with the latter part of Sir William Flower's statement, such being 

 admittedly the case, the southward passage not being available for 

 them, I could wish that this eminent authority had indicated by 

 what other means the interchange might take place. Supposing the 

 whales to pass round the north of Greenland,^ the heavy ice in the 

 upper reaches of Kennedy and Robinson Channels would be fatal to 

 their reaching the west coast, and Cape Farewell for many reasons 

 is out of the question. When it was believed that a passage existed 

 through Mid-Greenland from sea to sea, no insuperable barrier to 

 such an interchange appeared to present itself, but it seems impos- 

 sible that it should be accomplished by means of any passage known 

 to us in the present day. Let us look at the evidence. The only 

 instance of the supposed passage from Davis Strait to Greenland seas 

 with which I am acquainted, is on the authority of Captain D. Gray, 

 who admits that he has found little evidence of such an interchange. 

 He says, however, that the ' Kate ' of Peterhead, in 1866, in 80^ N., 

 killed a small whale in which was found an Esquimaux harpoon ; 

 this he considers conclusive proof of its Straits origin, " there being 

 no natives on the east coast of Greenland ; " as, however, he is 

 wrong in this supposition, the occurrence is of no value. Some of 

 the stories of such visits of Greenland whales to Davis Strait are 

 very circumstantial ; I will only give two which appear to be the 

 best substantiated. The first is from Eschricht and Reinhardt 

 {I.e., p. 24), and they rightly remark that " if it can be completely 

 depended upon, it is deserving of peculiar mention." It is derived 

 from an account given by Paul Egede, to the effect that the com- 

 mander of a whaling expedition (in 1787) in Davis Strait found a 

 whale drifting with a harpoon sticking in it, which he recognised as 

 that of his brother, and which, on his return, he learned had been 

 put into the whale near Spitzbergen only two days before he found 

 the animal dead in Davis Strait. The second instance I give from 



1 Journ. Roy. Col. Inst., February 1895, p. 16.3. 



2 The most northerly known point of North Greenland extends to 83° 24' N., and 

 Peary thinks it likely it reaches even to 85° N. 



