311 
Voyage to Davis Straits. 
pair to the higher latitudes, while the latter remain oil the rocks 
and islands in the vicinity of the mainland. At present, we saw 
nothing to induce us to stop here. 
About SO miles off Riskol, is a reef of sunken rocks, on which 
numerous icebergs are stranded. Holding an intermediate 
course, we fell in with North Bay Islands, which are, I believe, 
at present uninhabited. A little farther to the northward, is a 
wide inlet of the sea, named South-East Bay, at the entrance of 
which is Wester Islands, on which there is a factory of Esqui- 
maux, placed there by the Danes for the sake of the whale- 
fishery. In the afternoon we were visited by the Governor, a 
native of Denmark, who spoke the English language with toler- 
able facility. He informed us that he had seen but few whales, 
owing, as he supposed, to the openness of the season, the pre- 
ceding winter having been unusually mild. Whales, he said, 
are but rarely seen here during the summer (z. e. from June to 
August), when it is supposed they migrate to the higher lati- 
tudes, but in winter the adjacent seas are much frequented 
by them. Owing, however, to the shortness of the day, during 
the latter season, whale-fishing cannot be prosecuted with the 
same success as in April and May, which, on the whole, he con- 
sidered to be the season best suited for that employment. 
About SO miles to the NE. of Wester Islands, is another 
group named Whale Islands, where we arrived the day follow- 
ing. Here is also a factory of Esquimaux, with a Governor, who, 
like his colleague at Wester Islands, is appointed to superintend 
the whale-fishery. Both are annually visited by a Danish ves- 
sel, which, in return for oil, furs, &c., supplies them with Eu- 
ropean commodities. 
There are other small islands situated farther in the bay, 
which, about ten or twelve years ago, were regularly visited by 
the whalers, on account of the number of whales w hich frequent- 
ed their shores. The ships, on their arrival in this country, 
were usually anchored in the harbours of Levely, or Whale 
Islands, from whence boats were dispatched, containing har- 
poons and other apparatus for taking these animals ; and so nu- 
muerous were they, that, for several years in succession, the 
ships returned to their respective ports with a full cargo of oil 
-and whalebone. Of late years, however, the whales seem to 
