274 OKUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 



this account is disliked by the whalers, as the presence of a 

 single Killer means the immediate flight of all creatures in that 

 vicinity. Luckily it will not penetrate among the heavy floes, 

 where the Right whales retreat for safety, Some idea of the 

 destruction to life caused by the Killer may be formed from the 

 fact that in the stomach of one were found fourteen porpoises 

 and fourteen large seals; it choked to death swallowing the 

 fifteenth. They chase seals and White whales on shore, and the 

 seals are often seen jumping clear out of water in their endea- 

 vour to escape. 



PORPOISES. 



Phocaena communis, Brookes. The porpoise arrives on the 

 Greenland coast early in the spring, but does not go north of 

 latitude 69 ]ST., nor does it frequent the ice-laden seas of Baffin 

 bay ; it is unknown in Hudson strait and bay. 



Beluga catadon, Gray. The White whale or White porpoise 

 (Kellulauak, Eskimo) is common to all the Arctic coasts, and 

 remains throughout the year. 1 It usually travels in large schools, 

 frequenting the bays and mouths of rivers. In the north large 

 numbers have been taken by the whalers along the coast of 

 ]STorth Somerset, both in Prince Regent inlet and in Barrow 

 strait. It is plentiful in the rivers at the heads of Cumberland 

 gulf and Frobisher bay. Many are killed annually by the 

 natives along the south shore of Hudson strait. The Hudson's 

 Bay Company has for several years past made successful fish- 

 eries in the mouth of the Koksoak river and in Leaf bay, both 

 in the southwest part of Ungava bay. Similar fisheries were 

 formerly conducted in the mouths of Great and Little Whale 

 rivers on the east side of Hudson bay, but after some success 

 the whales would not enter these rivers over the nets, and the 

 fisheries were abandoned. The writer has seen great numbers 

 of White whales in the mouths of the rivers to the northward of 



