412 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA, AND ITS METEOROLOGY. 



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 water. Neither 

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

 the w^arm waters arc, are celebrated for their fish. 



769. Value of the fisheries. — Three thousand American vessels, it 

 is said, are engaged 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, 

 liowever, the whale fishery is the most valuable. AVherefore, 

 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. 



770. Sperm whales. — The sperm whale is a warm-water fish. 

 The right whale delights in cold water. An immense number of 

 log-books of whalers have been discussed at the National Obser- 

 T-atory with the view of detecting the parts of the ocean in 

 which the whales are to be found at the different seasons of 

 the 3'ear. Charts showing the results have been published; 

 they form a part of the series of Maury's Wind and Current 

 Charts. 



771. J. sea of fire to them. — In the course of these investi- 

 gations, the discovery was made that the torrid zone is, to the 

 right whale, as a sea of fire, through w^hich he cannot pass ; that 

 the right whale of the northern hemisphere and that of the 

 southern are two different animals ; and that the sperm whale 

 has never been known to double the Cape of Good Hope — he 

 doubles Cape Horn. 



772. Might u-hales. — With these remarks, and the explanation 

 given on Plate IX., the parts of the ocean to which the right 

 •whale most resorts, and the parts in which the sperm are found, 

 may be seen at a glance. The sargassos, or places of weed, are 

 -also represented on this plate. 



