94 



THE ZOOLOGIST, 



The 'Terra Nova' had a curious experience. About 45 miles 

 off Martin's Mountains, the southern point of Lancaster Sound, 

 Capt. M'Kay killed his first Whale, a very large animal with 

 12 ft. bone. When cutting it up an old harpoon was found 

 embedded in its blubber, which bore the name of the whaler 

 'Jean,' of Bo'ness, and was dated 40 years back. This vessel 

 was lost in the ice 37 years ago, and the finding of the relic 

 excited a considerable amount of interest. The steel is said to 

 have been as bright as the day it was made, and the Whale seemed 

 to have sustained no injury from it. 



The 'Balaena' killed her only Whale on Sept. 23rd ; a fair 

 number had been seen, but it was not until that date that they 

 were enabled to effect a capture. In Elwin Bay, Prince Regent's 

 Inlet, they killed 820 White Whales in the month of August. 

 Capt. Fairweather reports a ghastly discovery in this locality. 

 Three vessels were cruising in concert, looking for White Whales, 

 when Mr. Fairweather, jun., being on shore with a seaman, 

 observed three corpses lying together not far from the shore, 

 and " a slight scrutiny revealed the fact that a party had died of 

 starvation. It was evident that the group, two men and a woman, 

 had resorted to cannibalism before death intervened to end their 

 sufferings. . . Lying scattered about in the vicinity were a num- 

 ber of human bones, skulls, &c. . . It is supposed the dead 

 Esquimaux were natives of Lancaster Sound, who had travelled 

 across the ice in search of depots of stores left by old navigators." 

 A large number of relics, the property of these poor people, were 

 brought away, amongst which was a telescope engraved " Feathers, 

 Dundee." Capt. Fairweather states that a number of years ago, 

 when in command of the ' Thetis,' he presented a similar tele- 

 scope to an Esquimaux, and he is of opinion that the instrument 

 discovered by his crew is the same. 



The total produce of the Whale fishery was 20 Right Whales, 

 1261 White Whales, and 49 Walrus; these yielded 412 tons of 

 oil and 14 tons 7 cwt. of bone. The former may be valued at 

 £17 per ton, or £7004 ; and the latter, allowing for under-size 

 bone (£1500 per ton for the former, and £750 for the latter, 

 about 10 percent, of the whole), at a sum of £20,448, or a total 

 of £27,452, as against a like valuation of £41,449 in the previous 

 season. 



The British vessels have not repeated the experiment of a 



