258 CRUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 
of the ' north water ' to the western shores of Baffin bay. 
Should there be a good land-floe in Jones and Lancaster sounds, 
they are found there late in July and in the beginning of 
August, but the greater number go south to the mouth of Ponds 
inlet, where the principal summer catch is made. During Sep- 
tember and October they are found along the western edge of 
the ' middle pack/ and the whalers pass southward from Ponds 
inlet, making use of a number of good harbours known only to 
themselves on the eastern side of Baffin island, and going out 
only in fine weather. According to the season they remain on 
that coast, to the northward of Cumberland gulf, until the 
middle or end of October, when they leave for Scotland. In 
October the whales again enter Cumberland gulf, and remain 
along the edge of the newly-formed land ice until December, 
when their position is unknown until their return in the follow- 
ing March. They are supposed to go in the meantime, to the 
southward, off the mouth of Hudson strait and along the north- 
ern Atlantic coast of Labrador, but the weather then is too 
severe to permit of the use of open whaleboats. 
The Greenland whale, commonly called a ' fish ' by the 
Whalers, is, as all know, a mammal, warm-blooded, reproducing 
and suckling its young like any of the land mammals. Its out- 
ward resemblance to a fish is merely a provision of nature, 
whereby its shape is adapted to the conditions in which it lives; 
that is, for a wholly marine life. Its swimming ' fins ' when 
stripped of their covering, are found to correspond to the fore- 
limbs of quadrupeds, and although the whale does not possess 
any hind-limbs, there are rudiments of such to be found in their 
place, or at least the rudiments of the pelvis to which the after 
limbs were attached. 
In colour the whale is usually black or bluish-black above, 
and whitish or piebald below. Sometimes white spots occur on 
the upper parts, and the markings frequently vary with the 
individual. The young are lighter-coloured, being bluish. 
