No. 466] ` NOTES AND LITERATURE. 753 
carefully, and is surprised at the remarkably small number of errors 
it contains, whether of omission or of commission. Notall will agree 
with the author in some of his views as expressed in his arrange- 
ments and distribution, though they seem for the most part well 
founded. But that matters little; the information is all there, and 
one does not have to follow the author if he has good reasons for 
not doing so. 
S. W. W. 

Barron's Old Whaling Days.'— This interesting narrative may 
be classed with Bullen’s Cruise of the Cachalot as a whaling epic, 
written by one who started as a cabin boy and eventually became 
master. Bullen gave us an account of the capture of sperm whales 
in temperate and tropical seas; Captain Barron takes us to the arctic 
regions in pursuit of the Greenland right whales that follow close 
along the edge of the ever-changing ice pack. 
Sailing first in 1849, Barron made seventeen voyages to the arctic 
waters, chiefly west of Greenland, in pursuit of seals and whales and 
gives a graphic account of the many dangers encountered in the sud- 
den shiftings of the ice, the frequent gales and storms, and the bitter 
cold. About 1851, ships’ crews commenced the practice of winter- 
ing in the Cumberland Sound region that they might pursue the 
whales with the first return of the sun after the long arctic night. 
The introduction of steam whalers in the late 50's did away with 
many of the hardships that sailing vessels imposed upon their crews. 
For many years, Hull, England, was the chief clearing port for the 
arctic whalers, but by 1869 the trade was abandoned there. 
Although the author does not pretend to any scientific knowledge, 
he tells a number of interesting facts in regard to the habits of 
whales and other animals. It is stated that one right whale, on 
being struck, sounded at once and in 34 minutes ran out 3600 feet 
of line indicating a speed of about 1000 feet a minute, which must 
be unusual for this species. The whale was then hauled up dead, 
having struck the sea bottom with such force as to break its neck. 
Barron also makes the interesting observation that thousands of 
young harp seals are sometimes killed in gales by the floe ice break- 
ing and driving over them. 
The main value of this book is in preserving a record of the 
perils and hardships suffered by the hardy whalers of a past genera- 
1 Barron, William. Old Whaling Days. William Andrews & Co., Hull; A. 
Brown & Sons, London, [1905]. 12mo, x + 211 pp. 3/6. : 
