The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1863-02-13
yfltsteQaneons.
The Inhabitants Of our Northern
Waters.

Tho pursuit Of tho seal and cetaceans by
the civilized races OF Europe and America.
carried on with systematic perseverance and
the appliances Of science, must eventually
drive these animals from their more accessi-
BILE haunts to the extreme recesscs of the po.
lar area. Already the formerly highly pro-
ductive seas Of Spitzbergcn and Davis Straits
are almost fshed out, and the inlets and
channels Of the Meta lenognita Archipelago
have been invaded by the wha'ers. At pres
ent the Meta Inecgnita Island are among
the most dcnsely populated E.quimo areas !;
but should tho seals and whales which are
eagerly pursuid there by Europeans. be driven
to remove elsewhere. the natives, after much
suffering, must also abandon there ancient
seats. II the fishes of the Polar seas were
we'll known, we should probably find the
species much the same on every meridian !;
tho temperature of the sea, when ice is pres.
ent. varying but little near the surface. DR..
Sutherland found the mean in Davis Straits
and Lancaster Sound to be little below 33a
F., the range in these months being less than
three degrees; but in September the surface
water becomes degree or two colder. In
the Spitzbergen seas tho mean was 35 l-2'
during summer, according to Sir John Frank,
Inns and Sir Edward Parry's trials. At con-
siderable depth the temperature is greater
and moro uniform, and q comparative uni
formity of animal life is likely to prevail
there. There is, however, one remarkable
difference in the presence Of surgeons in the
rivers Of Asia, into which thoy ascend from
the ICY 500, whereas no surgeons have as yet
been detected in the American rivers that fall
into the polar basin, not even into tho Nc
Kenzie. whose sources are situated so far
South as to interlock with those rivers that
fall into the Pacific and Hudson's Bay, and
abound in fine surgeons of several species.
/ Trout of various kinds and Of large size
inbabit the rivers that fall into the Arctic
sea, and on the American coast, near the
mouth of Copperminc river, a species resem.
bling the sca.trout Of England was abundant
in the shadows. The true Salno sala is said
to be rare in Siberia, but Others Of tho genius
such rs the Kundasha, and Goisa, and the
Lenok, arc common. In America, too, four
or FIVE great trouts and chars, like those Of
Greenland, people all the largo lakes in the
Arctic regions. The natives, when furred
animals fail, know how To make clothing Of
the skins Of large fishes Of the salmon kind.
The skins of the burbot (Lota) is used on
the Obi in place Of glass for windows. In
America, though surgeons abound in Hud-
sons Bay, and in tho rivers that fall into
the Northern Pacific, mono exist in the Ma
kenzie or in any river that falls into tho
Arctic Sea, but in Siberia this fish is said by
Pallas merely to bo less frequent in these
north.aowing rivers, and Wrangell mentions
the sturgeon as ono Of the fishes Of tho Ro.
lyma district. Surgeons also enter the Obi,
and like other anadromous fishes OF that
river, ascend the tributary streams that flow
from tho mountains, and therein they pass
the winter. Such Of them as remain In the
main stream are said to dio Of conyulsions
in the month Of January but 1t 10 said also,
that these fish crowd together in deep holes
of tho river during the severe season, and
remain thcro at rest. Fish can be preserved
all the winior in Arctic climates in frozen
state, but even when taken toward the close
of the summer months and hung up In the
open air, it keeps in IN eatable state, though
not without some taint, till the following
spring. Itis therefore Wand OF vital i'm
-portancc to the rative fur-tradcrs residing
near large rivers or lakes .-"IHe Polar Re-
gions," By Sir John Richardson.