Pride of Race 3 1 



search everything is subordinated. Our vast bodies re- 

 quire so much nourishment, and that of a certain kind, 

 that we must place this need before all others. More- 

 over, we are, as compared with the smaller denizens 

 of the sea, upon many of which we might feed were it 

 possible to catch them, very slow and clumsy in our 

 movements. The gigantic cuttle-fish alone, which hid^s 

 its mighty gelatinous bulk in the submarine caves at the 

 roots of the mountains is capable of satisfying our 

 enormous appetites and of being fairly easily obtained. 

 Creatures of smaller bulk and lesser prowess than ours 

 it does not fear. They become its comparatively easy 

 prey. But we are invincible, invulnerable ; against 

 our onslaught no cuttle-fish can defend itself when we 

 are full grown. 



This then is our primal need, as indeed it is of most 

 creatures that live, although many are able to subordin- 

 ate it to other needs for long periods at a time, notably 

 the seals. Next comes the love motive, the intense 

 over-mastering desire to have wives and children, and 

 coupled with it, really a consequence of it, the desire for 

 supremacy over our fellows. These two last only apply 

 to the males ; our females are almost like beings of 

 another race, so inferior to us are they in size, in agility, 

 in ferocity. The full-grown Sperm Whale cow never 

 exceeds in size half the dimensions of the full-grown 

 bull, and is, moreover, a gentle, timid creature whose 

 one object is to keep near her lord, to obey his lightest 

 sign, and who will cheerfully remain by his side and die 

 with him if he be in danger of death. As I have before 

 hinted they are not fond mothers, taking the earliest 

 possible opportunity of shaking off the yoke of maternal 

 cares, but they endeavour to make up for this by their 

 absolute devotion to the head of the family. 



The young bulls are in an anomalous position. For 



