A Huge Victim 45 



the writhings of the victim, and the frantic tearing of 

 masses of flesh from its body, are hidden, or only 

 revealed by a few hurried gHmpses. 



Yet another enemy has the unfortunate Right 

 Whale ; really unfortunate, since it does not prey 

 upon its fellow-citizens, except in the same sense in 

 which we prey upon the animalculae in our drinking- 

 water — the 'thresher ' shark {Alopecias vuipes). Here 

 I am aware that I am upon highly controversial ground, 

 since very eminent professors of natural history deny 

 that the thresher does attack the whale. They say, 

 with what warrant I fail to understand at all, that 

 what the sailor has mistaken for the attack of the 

 thresher on the whale has been the antics or gambols 

 of the hump-backed whale, which has long arms 

 (fifteen feet or so), and is fond of waving them in the 

 air and bringing them down upon the water with a loud 

 smack. They are entirely wrong. The hump-backed 

 whale I have watched very many times at his play, 

 and though he does wave his arms he does not smack 

 the water with them but with his tail. Also, I have 

 seen the thresher shark attacking the whale at close 

 quarters, so close indeed that every movement of the 

 shark and his victim was plainly visible, and I can 

 hardly imagine any one mistaking the gambols of the 

 whale for this curious attack. The shark appears to 

 balance himself upon his head in the water, with the 

 whole of his enormous flail-like flukes in the air at 

 the moment of striking ; then, when the blow has been 

 delivered there is a quick descent and return, like 

 the lashing of a gigantic whip, while the blows are 

 audible for two miles on a calm day. So heavy are 

 they that strips of blubber are cut by them from the 

 back of the hapless whale four to six inches wide, and 

 two to five feet in length. Here, again, it is the worry 



