74: A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
peatedly urged one another to pull smartly, in order 
to get near the place where the fish were supposed 
to be, for the purpose of hearing what they called 
a ‘¢ whale-song :”’ it certainly had very little resem- 
blance to a song, but sailors are not generally the 
most happy in their comparisons. 
Several fish of another genus of the cetaceous 
tribe were seen this forenoon for the first time this 
voyage, viz. the Sea Unicorn, or Narwhal, (Monodon 
Monoceros, Lin.) ‘They were seen together in a 
shoal, in the same manner that the White-Whales 
went. 
Friday, 6th. — The weather having cleared up 
about noon, land was seen very distinctly to the 
southward and eastward of us, which forms, with 
the land to the southward and westward of the two 
islands before mentioned, a large inlet or opening 
leading about S.S. W. true. The west side of this 
inlet is full of ice, so that in getting on we shall be 
obliged to sail along pretty near the south-east land. 
I shall therefore not say any thing respecting its 
appearance at present, as we are likely to see more 
of it hereafter. We sounded to-day in one hundred 
and eighty fathoms, soft mud. A great number of 
white-whales were seen again to-day, and a few also 
of the common, or black-whale ; seals were also seen 
in great numbers, both on the ice and in the water. 
The compasses have become within these two days 
so sluggish in their motions, that they are almost 
useless, for all bearings of land are obliged to be 
taken by astronomical observation, that is, by the 
bearing of the sun, and the ships are indeed con- 
ducted more by the same means than by the com- 
pass, so that, when that luminary is obscured by 
18 
