22 Autobiography of a Sperm Whale 



and was instantly obeyed. For with us there is no 

 half-hearted or unwilling obedience. We choose our 

 chiefs for their ruling qualities, and having chosen 

 them it never occurs to us to disobey them or grumble 

 at their orders. We know that they are fit to rule us, 

 and we delight to obey. And when they are, by reason 

 of advancing age or sickness or any infirmity, unfit to 

 maintain their proud position any longer, we depose 

 them unhesitatingly. We know we must be led, must 

 have a chief, but we know that he must be best of the 

 very best. Nor can he hold his position one day after 

 he has fallen from our high standard. 



In a close compact body, we left the pleasant 

 purlieus of the Red Sea, and without deviating from 

 our direct course, except to clear Sokotra, we made 

 our way southward. Now I began to feel the benefit 

 of our long stay in the abundant waters we had just 

 quitted. Because here there was almost nothing for 

 us to eat. True, as we passed through the blue depths 

 in stately ranks an occasional shoal of fish would swim 

 down our gaping throats, or a passing school of por- 

 poises find permanent shelter in the vast maws of our 

 elders. But these were incidental only. Nothing 

 like the rich banqueting day after day, which had 

 been our lot in the teeming sea behind us. But if 

 we could feast when occasion offered, we could also 

 fast when need arose. And need was laid upon us 

 now. None but our chief knew whither we went, 

 yet we followed him unfalteringly through those 

 almost barren seas ; barren, that is, so far as we 

 were concerned. 



Without haste, yet resting not day nor night, we 

 pursued our journey southward through the mighty 

 silences of the sea. Once, and only once, did we see 

 anything to give us pause, and that was, as the water 



