Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/134

110 sequently of little value. Returning once more to the Greenland fishing, Capt. Robertson continued his search for Right Whales until the 22nd of August, but without success, and on that day bore up for home.

The absence of Right Whales in the Greenland Seas is to be attributed to the condition of the ice on their feeding grounds; it was not only too far north, but, when found, too light to be attractive to these animals. The fact of the landing of the crew of the 'Polar Star' on the east coast of Greenland, already referred to, is indicative of a very unusual absence of ice on that shore. Farther east, Dr. Nathorst, in the Swedish ship 'Antarctic,' not only made a thorough survey of Bear Island, to the south of Spitzbergen, but visited White Island, the mysterious Wyche's Island (misnamed King Charles's Land), and other islands in the N.E., and was enabled to circumnavigate the whole of the Spitzbergen group in one season, a feat, I believe, never before accomplished. In the longitude of Charles XII. Islands he reached 81° 14' N. latitude, and is of opinion that had he been a fortnight earlier he might have attained a still higher latitude. Farther west (4° 9' W.) he found the margin of the Greenland pack-ice in 78° 1' N. latitude.

The fact of the 'Balæna' and two Norwegian vessels again reaching Franz Josef Land is a sufficient indication of the state of the ice farther east. Capt. Robertson says:—"When there is good ice on the east longitude, we have the best chance of fishing; when we cannot see Spitzbergen from the edge of the ice in lat. 79° N. during May, it is a poor look-out." Such being the case, the failure of the Whale fishery in the exceptional ice-years we have had of late is not a matter of surprise. The 'Polar Star' brought home with her seventy Walrus, fifty Seals, yielding eight tons of oil, and seventeen Bears; the 'Balæna,' two hundred and fifty-seven Walrus, seven hundred and sixteen Seals, yielding thirty tons of oil, and twenty-two Bears, four of which were alive. The Bottle-nose Whale fishery, which was once so productive, is now quite discarded by the British vessels.

Three vessels, the 'Eclipse,' 'Diana,' and 'Nova Zembla,' left Dundee for Davis Strait, and the 'Active' made an experimental voyage to Hudson Strait, the result of which was one hundred and fifty Walrus and seventeen Bears. In May and June the 'Eclipse'