80 R. BROWN ON THE CETACEA OF GREENLAND. 



of August they are sure of a " full " ship. The Whales now 

 commence J^oiug south, and the Avhalers continue to pursue 

 them on their austral migration, halting for that purpose in 

 Home Bay, Scott's Inlet, Clyde River, &c. As the season gets 

 more tempestuous and the nights dark, most of them towards the 

 end of September, to avoid the icebergs dashing about in this 

 region at that time of the year, anchor in a snug cove, or cul de 

 sac, lyiiig off an extensive unexplored sound, not laid down on 

 any map, in the vicinity of Cape Hooper ; others go into a place 

 known by the euphonious name of " Hangman's Cove ;"* whilst 

 others go south to Kemisoak (Hogarth's Sound of Penny), 

 Northumberland Inlet, or other places in the vicinity of Cumber- 

 land Sound and the Meta Incognita of Frobisher, — localities inti- 

 mately known to many of these hardy seamen, but by name only 

 to geographers. Whilst the good ship lies secure in these un- 

 surveyed and unauthorised harbours (each master mariner accord- 

 ing to his predilection), the boats go outside to watch for Whales. 

 If they succeed in capturing one, frequently, if jDossible, the 

 vessel goes out and assists in securing it. Though thoy are sup- 

 posed to return to the ship every night, yet at this time the men 

 are often subjected to great hardship and danger. This is known 

 as the " autumn " or " fall fishing," and this method of pursuing 

 it as " rock-nosing." 



M. Guerin, tlie surgeon of a whaler, has described f what he 

 considers a marked variety of the Right Whale under the name 

 of the " Rock-nosed Whale." The characters Avhich he gives 

 (such as the head being considerably more than one-third the size 

 of the animal, or as 16 to 51) vary in almost every individual. 

 The size of the head, for instance, differs a little in almost all 

 individuals ; and Scoresby merely gave one-third the size of the 

 body as the average, not as the unvarying proportion. Whales of 

 different ages keep a good deal together ; hence young Whales 

 frequent the bays ; the old ones roam in the vicinity of the 

 " middle ice *' of Davis Strait, and afterwards come into the bays ; 

 and those killed early in the year at Pond's Bay are chiefly young 

 animals. Hence the whaler uses the terms " middle-icers," " rock- 

 nosers," and " Pond's-Bay fish," to designate not a separate species 

 or even variety, but to express a geographical fact and a zoological 

 habit. According to the state of their cargo, the industry of the 

 captain, or the state of the weather, the whalers leave for home 

 from the 1st to the 20th of October, but rarely delay their 

 departure beyond the latter date. 



W^here the Whale goes to in the winter is still unknown. It is 

 said that it leaves Davis Strait about the month of November, and 

 produces young in the St. Lawrence River, between Quebec and 

 Camaroa, returning again in the spring to Davis Strait. At all 

 events, early in the year they are found on the coast of Labrador, 

 where the English whalers occasionally attack them ; but the 



* From an Eskimo being found here hung by an alhmah over a cliff, 

 t Edinb. New. Phil. Journ., 1845, p. 267. 



