396 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA, AND ITS METEOROLOGY. 



gulfs loom up before the imagination, reminding us to ask the 

 Necessity for, and quostion, Is there uot embosoniod in the antarctic 

 arcuJe^xpecUtion.^* continent a Mediterranean, the shores of which are 

 favourable to the growth and the launching of icebergs of tre- 

 mendous size ? and is not the entrance to this sea near the 

 meridian of Cape Horn, perhaps to the west of it ? Circum- 

 stances like these beget longings, and we sigh for fresh antarctic 

 explorations. Surely, when we consider the advantages which 

 the improvements of the age, the lights of the day, would afford 

 an exploring expedition there now; when we reflect upon the 

 drawbacks and difficulties with which former expeditions thither 

 had to contend ; when we call to mind the facilities with which 

 one might be conducted noiv : surely, I say, when we thus 

 reflect, no one can doubt as to the value and importance of the 

 discoveries which a properly equipped expedition would notv be 

 sure to make. 



768. In those regions there are doubtless elements of commer- 

 Commerciai conside- cial Wealth in the number of seals and abundance 

 rations. of whalos, if in nothing else. It seems to be a 

 physical law that cold-water fish are more edible than those of 

 warm water. Bearing this fact in mind as we study Plate IX., 

 we see at a glance the places which are most favoured with good 

 fish-markets. Both shores of North America, the east coast of 

 China, with the west coasts of Europe and South America, are 

 all washed by cold waters, and therefore we may infer that their 

 markets abound w^ith the most excellent fish. The fisheries of 

 Newfoundland and New England, over which nations have 

 wrangled for centuries, are in the cold water from Davis' Strait. 

 The fisheries of Japan and Eastern China, which almost, if not 

 quite, rival these, are situated also in the cold watei\ Neither 

 India, nor the east coasts of Africa and South America, where 

 the warm waters are, are celebrated for their fish. 



769. Three thousand American vessels, it is said, are engaged 

 Value of the fisheries, in the fisheries. If to these we add the Dutch, 

 French, and English, we shall have a grand total, perhaps, of 

 not less than six or eight thousand, of all sizes and flags, engaged 

 in this one pursuit. Of all the industrial pursuits of the sea, 

 however, the whale fishery is the most valuable. Wherefore, 

 in treating of the physical geography of the sea, a map for 

 the whales, it was thought, would be useful : it has so proved 

 itself. 



