SPOUTING IN FAVOR OF GAS. 



333 



WHALE FISHING. 



HALING is the most ad- 

 venturous occupation 

 known within the cir- 

 cle of legitimate in- 

 " dustry. It demands 

 >, not only the explora- 

 tions of most danger- 

 _ ous seas, but a resi- 

 dence upon them dur- 

 ing the most inclem- 

 ent seasons. For 

 many years very lit- 

 tle whaling has been 

 done in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the coast of Labra- 

 dor, but the whales are again returning to their wonted feed- 

 ing-grounds there, and the walruses or sea-cows nightly ap- 

 proach, and sometimes rest on the islands. 



The Georgia shoals, and banks near Newfoundland gener- 

 ally, teem with nearly all the fishes of the Northern seas. 

 Fishes from afar visit those feeding-grounds, which are form- 

 ed into rich pastures by the settling of the debris washed 

 down from near the frigid zone. The heavy tides whose 

 swift currents sweep around Scotland and Ireland are met by 

 counter tides and strong currents from Baffin's and Hudson's 

 Bays, and these precipitate vegetable and mineral matters, in- 

 cluding the drift of large rocks in icebergs, and, being assist- 

 ed by the backing of the Gulf Stream, they have already form- 

 ed the island of Newfoundland, the Fishing Banks, and the 

 small islands which dot those waters, all of which will yet 

 rise into an extensive territory, connecting Newfoundland 

 with the main land south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The 

 waters of the Straits of Belle Isle, which form one of the prin- 

 cipal outlets to the gulf, are so deep, and the rise and fall of 

 the tides so great, that they have contributed to the forma- 

 tion of the island of Anticosti, which is larger than Long Isl- 



