NORTH-WEST WHALING. 85 



pleasant, so that the men could work in light 

 clothing. In most parts of the ocean there was 

 good anchorage, from fourteen to thirty-five 

 fathoms, and a part of the time the vessel lay 

 at anchor. The first whale was taken at twelve 

 o'clock at night. It was not difficult to whale 

 the whole twenty-four hours, it being so light 

 that it was easy to read in the cabin at midnight. 

 The whales were quite tame, but different from 

 any Captain Koys had ever before taken. He 

 captured three different species, one of the 

 largest yielding two hundred barrels of oil. 

 The first species much resembled the Greenland 

 whale, affording one hundred and sixty or 

 seventy barrels. The second was a species 

 called Polar whale, a few of which have been 

 taken before on the North-west Coast ; and the 

 the third was a small whale peculiar to that 

 ocean. The last three whales which were taken 

 yielded together over six hundred barrels. 



It is the opinion of Lieutenant Maury of the 

 United States National Observatory, that all 

 the whales in the Pacific Ocean have particular 

 resorts at certain seasons of the year, where the 



