S95 
the Arctic Regions. 
less extent, or 'mpacTes. This second case is the most difficult 
of any ; for the unconnected fragments of ice are in continual 
agitation, and liable to approach or recede ; they sometimes 
offer a free passage at the moment least expected, while at other 
times, they not only block up that which before appeared open, 
but entirely surround the ships entangled among them, and 
sometimes come together with a force sufficient to crush the 
vessel by their immense pressure. Different instances, each 
applicable to particular cases which may occur, give a great in- 
terest to the preceding account, and contribute to throw much 
light on this subject. 
What follows these descriptions is only interesting to com- 
merce, such as the processes used in obtaining the products of 
the fishery, whether on board the ships, or on shore when 
the voyage is concluded, or in extracting the oil from the blub- 
ber, which was previously stowed away in casks. The author 
has adapted this subject to the general object of the whale- 
fishery, by giving an estimate of the produce of that carried 
on in the Greenland Seas, and he afterwards compares the re- 
lative profit of this fishery with that prosecuted in the Straits 
of Davis and Hudson. 
The Appendix to the first volume contains a series of meteo- 
' rological observations made in the Polar Regions during the 
months of April, May, and June, for twelve consecutive years, 
from 1807 to 1818 inclusive ; this is followed by a table of re- 
sults, giving the conclusions thence deduced on the mean tem- 
perature of the climates where these observations were made. ^ 
The author has collected in the Appendix to the second volume 
every thing necessary to the completion of his subject, which 
could not be inserted in the body of his work ; such as an ab- 
stract of the act of the English Parliament which imposes the 
present regulations on those engaged in the whale-fishery, either 
in regard to the conditions exacted from them by the State, or 
as relates to their conduct and their reciprocal rights, when 
great numbers of them are crowded in a small space, where a 
question may arise on the possession of a whale in the capture 
of which different fishers may have assisted. The same Appen- 
dix contains other details less interesting, but which it "would be 
pseless to enumerate in this place : their principal merit CQn= 
