iSREENLANB OR POPLAR ICE. B9S^ 



jare harmless and timid. They seem to prefer 

 those situations which afford them the most se- 

 cure retreats. Among the ice, they have an occa- 

 sional shelter ; but so far as it is permeable, the 

 security is rather apparent than real. That they 

 are conscious of its affording them shelter, we 

 can readily perceive, from observing that the 

 course of their Hight when scared or wounded, is 

 generally towards the nearest or most compact 

 ice. The place of their retreat, however, is regu- 

 lated by various circumstances ; it may some- 

 times depend on the quality and quantity of food 

 occurring, the disposition of the ice, or exemp- 

 tion from enemies. At one time, their favourite 

 haunt is amidst the huge and extended masses of 

 the field ice ; at another, in the open seas adja- 

 cent. Sometimes the majority of the whales in- 

 habiting those seas, seem collected within a small 

 and single circuit ; at others, they are scattered 

 in various hordes, and numerous single indivi- 

 duals, over an amazing extent of surface. To 

 discover and reach the haunts of the whale, is an 

 object of the first consideration in the fishery^ 

 and occasionally the most difficult and laborious 

 to accomplish. In close seasons, though the ice 

 joins the south of Spitzbergen, and thereby forms 

 3 barrier against the fishing stations, yet this bar- 

 rier is often of a limited extent, and terminates 

 on the coasts of Spitzbergen in an open space, ei- 

 ther forming, or leading to, the retreat of the 



