184 TEE CRUISE OF TEE " CACEALOT." 



safe navigation are made light of by the whalemen, who, 

 as I feel never weary of remarking, are the finest 

 navigators in the world where speed is not the first 

 consideration. 



The most peculiar features of these inhospitable 

 shores to a seaman are the vast fields of seaweed sur- 

 rounding them all, which certainly helps to keep the sea 

 down during gales, but renders navigation most difficult 

 on account of its concealment of hidden dangers. These 

 islands are aptly named, the word " Kurile " being Kam- 

 schatkan for smoke ; and whether it be regarded as given 

 in consequence of the numerous volcanoes which pour 

 their fumes into the air, or the all-prevailing fog fostered 

 by the Kuro Siwo, or Japanese counterpart of the Gulf 

 stream, the designation is equally appropriate. 



We entered the Okhotsk Sea by theNadeshda Channel, 

 so-named after Admiral Krusenstern's ship, which was 

 the first civilized vessel that passed through its turbulent 

 waters. It separates the islands Eashau and Mataua 

 by about twenty miles, yet so conflicting and violent are 

 the currents which eddy and swirl in all parts of it, that 

 without a steady, strong fair wind it is most dangerous 

 to a sailing vessel. Thenceforward the navigation was 

 free from difficulty, or at least none that we could 

 recognize as such, so we gave all our attention to the 

 business which brought us there. 



Scarcely any change was needed in our equipment, 

 except the substitution of longer harpoons for those we had 

 been using, and the putting away of the bomb-guns. These 

 changes were made because the blubber of the bowhead 

 is so thick that ordinary harpoons will not penetrate 

 beyond it to the muscle, which, unless they do, renders 

 them liable to draw, upon a heavy strain. As for the 



