TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 28 
the surface of the water in Davis’s Straits, and Baf- 
fin’s Bay, is exposed to the influence of the sun for 
the most part of the summer ? 
Saturday, 5th. — Several whales of the species call- 
ed Finners (Balena Physalus), were seen last evening 
and this morning. These fish derive thename of finner, 
from a fin on their back, which is often seen when no 
other partof their body is abovethesurface of the water. 
Some of them are as long as the ordinary-sized Green- 
land or black whale, that is, from fifty to sixty feet, 
but never so bulky as that fish. They are much more 
active, and consequently more difficult to kill than 
the common whale ; for that reason, and their afford- 
ing but little oil, they are seldom molested by the 
fishermen ; the Esquimaux, however, are said to hold 
their flesh in higher estimation than that of the black 
whale, but, from the danger and difficulty that they 
would have to encounter in killing them, it may be 
presumed that their palates are but seldom gratified 
with their favourite dish. We observed that flocks of 
Peterels, both of the Shearwater and Fulmar species, 
kept hovering over the places where-these fish came 
up to blow, no doubt with a view of picking up some- 
thing in the way of food. Several other of the well- 
known inhabitants of these northern regions, were 
seen in the course of the day, for the first time this 
voyage ; such as Terns, or Greenland swallows 
(Sterno Hirundo, Lin.), Porpoises (bete Phocena, Lin.), 
and the species of Mollusca, called the Clio Borealis, 
and, by the Greenland fishermen, Whale’s food. Some 
Solan geese and seals were also seen to-day, which 
rather surprised us, for we were at noon four hundred 
and nine miles from Cape Farewell*, a distance from 
c 4 
