-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Note about whales on Baja California map
Date:   Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:32:50 -0400
From:   Grabach, Kenneth A. Mr. <[log in to unmask]>
To:     Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
<[log in to unmask]>



Hello, colleagues.

I am cataloging the new edition (7, 2010) of the International Travel
Maps’ Mexico: Baja California. I found an interesting little note for an
inlet of Laguna Oja de Liebre* (Scammon’s Lagoon), the Est. Norte
branch. The note reads “Ballenas [=] Whale watching”. On older maps,
this might have read, “Here be whales”, or make some reference to
Leviathan. I discovered it while examining the colophon in the legend.,
which is juxtaposed next to Peninsula de Vizcaino and the Laguna.

*The name, also spelled Ojo de Liebre, means Eye of the Jackrabbit, or
Eye of the Hare.

Zoologically speaking, I did not know that the famous Gray Whales of the
Pacific coast came into lagoons. It seems that at this spot one might be
able to view whales while standing on the shore. It also seems that this
and some other lagoons along the coast are whale nurseries. They are a
Unesco World Heritage Site. The things one can learn while reading our
beautiful and informative maps.

Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>

Maps Librarian Phone: 513-529-1726

Miami University Libraries

Oxford, Ohio 45056 USA