lighter than usual, in consequence of the atmosphere having been rendered more temperate by the currents of warmer air coming up from the south. If the wind really did prevail from that quarter, it follows that no ice could escape from Baffin's Bay, but would accumulate there, completely covering the sea, which might have been the cause why so many whales were seen in the open sea to the south-westward. We may also mention, in corroboration of this supposition, that when our shipwrecked mariners, having travelled over the ice, reached the shore, they found, in the huts, the unburied bodies of the native families, who had apparently all perished from famine, having, in all probability, been deprived of the opportunity of catching those sea animals on which they live, by the drifting in of the ice on the coast by the continued southerly wind.

The whale-fisher seldom spends less than three, commonly four, tedious months in "boring, warping, and sawing” his way through the entanglements of this icy channel, and if he escapes shipwreck or permanent detention, he arrives at an open sea to the westward, entering on the scene of his whaling operations about the end of July. The whales commonly remain in these regions till August is well advanced, when they take their departure southwards. Adjoining Lancaster Sound, as had been noticed by Baffin himself, the land-ice under the sea limits, of which whales take refuge, is commonly still fast to the shore, there the whaler commences a brisk attack on his prey, -soon completes his cargo,-and in a few weeks, with a merry heart, prepares to return home. The masses of ice which cause so much embarrassment in his outward passage, have now yielded to the benign influence of the season, and the ease of his voyage homewards forms a pleasing contrast with his former toils, and the same navigation which cost him months of anxious labour before, is now effected in a few days.

Now, what does such a view suggest? Our ships sail about the end of February or beginning of March, reach the ice early in April, and generally do nothing till the beginning of August. They are detained all that time by the ice, which every hour threatens them with destruction, and which is reduced to an atom of what it was by the time they are clear of it. Very little of the ice is destroyed during March, April, and

May; it is the warmth of June, and especially of July and August, that melts and breaks it up; so that a vessel entering Davis' Straits early in July, will probably reach Lancaster Sound as soon as if she had followed the present plan, and started three or four months earlier. By such arrangement, the track through Melville Bay, by this time rendered much less dangerous, might, in most seasons, be altogether avoided; for, at this advanced period of the year, much of the ice having been drifted out into the Atlantic, and the remainder reduced by the warmth of the atmosphere, and spread abroad upon the surface of the sea, may very probably permit a passage across to the west land in a lower latitude. This arrangement evidently possesses great advantages over that at present pursued. By it the period of the voyage might be shortened one-third, producing the saving of an equal proportion of wages and provisions, and perhaps a reduction of premium of assurance would be the consequence, because the gales, fogs, heavy ice, and long dark nights of spring, would be avoided, much tear and wear would be saved, and the risk of losing the vessel much diminished.

I am aware that there are arguments in favour of early voyages of no trifling importance; thus, there is a chance of falling in with a few of the scattered fish which may sometimes haunt the south-west fishery ground, and as these are to be met with only in the beginning of spring, an early voyage becomes indispensable. But it must be kept in view, that whales are generally very scarce in that quarter; that they often desert it entirely, and are numerous only on rare occasions, or when the sea to the northward is not open. This station is also disadvantageous, by being exposed to the storms of the Atlantic, with heavy and washed ice, circumstances unfavourable for the

Such a course was followed by Captain Parry with little opposition, though it must be mentioned, that the Dundee of London three or four years ago, attempting such in a still lower latitude, got endocked in a floe during a gale, where she was frozen fast and detained through the winter; the crew were supplied with provision from the wreck of a Dutchman who, under similar circumstances, had been abandoned. The Dundee was carried by the drifting ice through Davis' Straits, and was not liberated till the spring of the following year.

whale-fishery. It thus rests with those who engage in this business, to judge whether the advantages of an early voyage more than counterbalance the numerous disadvantages attending it. Very few captures of late years have been made on the southwest fishing-ground; so few, indeed, that some of our experienced fishermen consider it a waste of time to visit it. Indeed, on mature deliberation, we doubt not but every one who knows any thing of the business will condemn the present disastrous system. Every year our fleets make hair-breadth escapes,every year one or two vessels are lost, but such evil being small in proportion to the risk, is actually little thought of. It is only when the calamity becomes general, as has been the case this season,-when ten, a dozen, or a score of vessels are crushed to pieces,—when fifty or a hundred thousand pounds' worth of property is sent to the bottom of the sea,—when we have eight hundred or a thousand families thrown destitute for the winter, some bereft of a father, a brother, or a son,-and when oil rises to fifty or sixty pounds a ton: It is only after such complicated misfortune that we hear of it, and that too with a vengeance.

Having thus given a brief sketch of the prominent peculiarities of this perilous voyage, and adduced ample reasons why the present plan of conducting it should be abandoned, we shall conclude our remarks for the present, by recommending to the enterprising, a method by which the valuable produce of Baffin's Bay may probably be obtained with comparatively little risk.

It is the opinion of experienced fishermen, who have spent half their lives in Greenland, that the sea in the higher latitudes of Baffin's Bay, if it freezes at all, is covered with ice late, and is very early broken up. Adjoining Lancaster Sound, across to the Arctic Highlands, and down along the western shores of the bay, towards the 68° of latitude, they find it always free from ice. In the above opinion, they are supported by the existence of tribes of Esquimaux inhabiting the head of the bay, who are dependent on an open sea for subsistence, who told Sacheuse, that they were the only people in the world, and that the water adjoining their territory, was the only place free from ice, rendered it necessary in their opinion, that Sacheuse and

his friends must have come from the moon. Indeed, if we reflect on the direction of the currents in the bay, and that there, as in Spitzbergen sea, northerly gales may prevail during the more inclement months, we may conclude, that, notwithstanding the lowness of the temperature of the water, it should be nearly free from ice*. Now this open space has been found most abundantly frequented by whales, and is perfectly habitable. If so, a number of men suitably equipped might establish themselves on the coast, passing the winter, and during the proper season might secure abundance of blubber, as they were wont in former times, on the shores of Spitzbergen, and so furnish cargoes for vessels visiting the country at a safe season of the year, manned with no more hands than what would be sufficient for their navigation. Independent of the wealth produced by the sea, the land abounds in black, white and red foxes, whose skins are valuable, being covered with a soft fur. No doubt such an establishment could not flourish over a few years, as the whale, wise beast! soon deserts the scene of persecution. Nevertheless, at present it might be a speculation of importance, not only to those who engage in it, but might prove useful also to the miserable natives, who, amidst the most severe privations, have continued so long in this forlorn part of the earth as to have outlived even the tradition of their origin. Acquaintance with Europeans might be the means of contributing to their comforts, and of rendering their residence in the Arctic Highlands more human. But these poor creatures, abandoned to their fate in this corner of the frozen north, if not destined to die out, can never in such a situation be otherwise than low in the scale of civilization.

The whale-fishery has not yet been prosecuted in Hudson's

"That these north-east gales are sometimes very severe, is demonstrated by a discovery made by Captain Ross, whilst exploring the west side of the entrance to Lancaster Sound,-there we found the skeleton of a whale full 500 yards above high water mark. It had doubtless been thrown dead on the beach, and when the storm blew from the north-east, the train of ice-fields was drifted on the shore, and by the violence of the pressure, the ice-ledge was slid over the land, shoving before it the whale's carcass. We have witnessed similar phenomena on the shores of Spitzbergen."-This we consider to be an important geological fact.-EDIT.

OCTOBER-DECEMBER 1830.

K

Straits, a circumstance rather to be wondered at, as the voyage must necessarily be less hazardous than that to Lancaster Sound, since, according to Captain Parry, Fox Channel at the head of the Straits is not only free from ice during summer, but swarming with whales, unconscious of danger. This is certainly a rich field for future adventure. The entrance to the Straits is for the most part inaccessible till August, being hampered with icebergs driven about by the waves of the ocean; these become less numerous, and more insignificant, with the progress to the westward, until they entirely disappear, when the chief obstruction lies in the floe ice, which had been formed in winter, then in a state of rapid solution.

LEITH, Nov. 30. 1830.

Observations on the History and Progress of Comparative Anatomy. By DAVID CRAIGIE, M.D. &c. Communicated by the Author *.

Few sciences have undergone greater vicissitudes in their progressive advancement, than that of comparative or animal anatomy. Originating at an earlier period than that of the human frame, and cultivated as a substitute for it, both by the ancients and also by some of the moderns, it fell under the contempt and degradation which all misapplied departments of knowledge are destined to incur. When at length prejudice began to subside, and reflection taught anatomists that the knowledge of the structure of the lower animals, if kept in its proper place, and made subsidiary to, but not substituted for, that of the human body, may be not only free from harm, but productive of the greatest benefits, it began to attract the attention of physiologists, and to assume something like a definite rank among the natural sciences.

It may be observed, nevertheless, that on this subject a considerable degree of misconception prevails, both generally, and also amongst those whose pursuits require some knowledge of

* Dr Craigie is author of Elements of General and Pathological Anatomy, 1827; joint Editor of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, and conductor of the Anatomical department of the Encyclopædia Britannica.-EDIT.