Ad seen several immense shoals and was of opinion that he should have secured fifty tons of oil, had the weather been tolerably moderate. I asked him whether he thought the whales he had seen were fish of passage. "No," he answered, "they were going on every point of the compass, and were evidently on feeding ground, which I saw no reason to doubt that they frequent." Melville afterwards confirmed to me this observation. December 3rd, the 'Mary Anne' and 'Matilda' again returned. The former had gone to the southward, and off Port Jervis had fallen in with two shoals of whales, nine of which were killed, but owing to bad weather, part of five only were got on board. As much, the master computed, as would yield thirty barrels of oil. He said the whales were the least shy of any he had ever seen, "not having been cut up". The latter had gone to the northward, and had seen no whales but a few fin-backs. On the 5th of December, both these ships sailed again; and on the 16th and 17th of the month (just before
