ORDER VI. THE CETACEA. 245 



IiiimlreJ and fift}^ wlialcrs, nminicd by tliirtccn tliousaml fi\ o luiiulrfd seamen, 

 were sent out. One of the causes of our success may be, that while the 

 wliale trade in England is carried on by men of large cajiital, who are tlie 

 Solo proprietors of the slii[), tlie American interest in a vessel is often lield by 

 nianv nien of small capital, and not unfrc(piently by the connnandcr and 

 officers. 



The Australian colonies also, being most conveniently situated for the 

 purpose, fit out many ships for the business, which is besides conducted in 

 several permanent stations along the coast of ]S'ew Zealand. 



Whale charts have of late years been drawn, on which the best fishing 

 grounds, atditferent seasons, are delineated. These maps are not only useful 

 guides for the whalers, but promise the future solution of the still luuleeided 

 question of the migration of whales. While some naturalists arc of opinion 

 that the cetaceans, flying from the pursuit of man, aliandon their old liaunts 

 for more sequestered regions, others, like M. Jai'r|uinot, believe that if the 

 whaler is continually obliged to look for more productive seas, it is not because 

 the wiiale has migrated, but because he has been nearly extirpated in one 

 place, and lel't unmolested in another. 



Tlie Cireenlaud whale fishery was, for more than a hundred years, confined 

 to the seas between Spitzbcrgcn and (ircenhnid ; the entrance and cast shore 

 of Davis's Straits, not being frequented before the beginning of the last cen- 

 tury. .Since then the cxiieditions of Ross and Parry have made the whalers 

 accpiaintcd with a mnnber of admiraldo stations on tlie farther side of Davis's 

 Straits, and in tlie higher latitudes of IjafHifs Day. Tiic vessels destined for 

 that quarter sail usually in ^larcii, though some delay their departure till the 

 middle, or even the end of April. They proceed first to the northern parts of 

 the coast of Labrador, or to tire mouth of Cumberland Strait, carrying on 

 what is called the south-west fishery. After remaining there till about the 

 beginning of JSIay, they cross to the eastern shore of the strait, and pass 

 upwards along the coast, particularly in South-east Cay, Xorth-cast Bay, 

 Kingston Bay, or Horn Sound. 



About the month of July they usually cross Baffin's Bay to Lancaster 

 Sound, wliicli they sometimes enter, and occasionally even ascend Barrow's 

 Strajt, twenty or thirty miles. In returning, tliey pass down the western 

 shore, where their favorite stations arc Pond's V>ny, Agues's Alonumcnt, 

 Home Bay, and Cape Searle, and sometimes perse\ere till late in October. 

 The casualties arc generally very great, the mid<lle of Baffin's Bay being 

 filled with a compact and continuous barrier, through which, till a very 

 advanced period of the se;'.son, it is impossible for the navigator to penetrate. 

 Between this central body and that attached to the land, there intervenes a 

 narrow and precarious passage, where many a vessel has been crushed or 



