OF WILD ANIMALS 285 



came close up and made a thrust at the calf, but received a 

 blow from the whale's flukes across the back, which apparently 

 paralyzed it. It was killed and hauled on board the boat 

 without difficulty, while the whale and calf went off towards 

 Coromandel with splashings and plungings. The whale's blow 

 had almost knocked off the back fin of the swordfish, and 

 heavily bruised the flesh around it. No threshers accompanied 

 the swordfish." 



Beyond question, as firearms and hunters multiply, all wild 

 animals become more timid, less inclined to attack man, and 

 also less inclined to attack one another. The higher creatures 

 are the most affected by man's destructiveness of animal life, 

 and the struggle for existence has become so keen that fighting 

 for the glory of supremacy, or as a pastime, will soon have no 

 important place in the lives of wild animals. 



