With Flashlight and Rifle * 



The fur of a. sea-otter is now worth over ^"100; but a 

 complete skin of this animal, such as could be exhibited 

 in a museum, has for years past been unobtainable ! 



War to the knife was long declared against whales 

 -the largest mammals of our time. (The popular notion 

 that they are fish seems, by the way, almost ineradicable.) 

 But for long they were able to escape complete annihila- 

 tion in Arctic regions, their capture involving the death 

 of so many determined men engaged in the struggle. 

 Now, however, that the harpoon is no longer slung by 

 the experienced whaler, but is shot into the whale's body 

 out of a cannon ; now that whaling has become a science, 

 carried out with the most elaborate and highly finished 

 implements, the last whale will very soon have dis- 

 appeared . 



" Very soon " ; for w r hat are a few centuries, when 

 we think of the lontr ages which were needed for the 



o o 



evolution of the whale to its present form ? Large 

 "schools" of whales are still to be seen in the Arctic 

 regions, and still redden the waters, year in, year out, 

 with their blood, shed in a futile conflict with an over- 

 powering enemy. But soon all this will belong to the 

 realm of legend and tradition, and in future times man 

 will stand in wonder before the scanty specimens to be 

 found in the museums, preserved therein thanks to the 

 foresight of a few. 



It is shocking and distressing to realise the number 

 of instances of the same kind of slaughter among 

 horned animals. A few decades ago millions of American 

 bisons {Bison biroii] roamed over their wide prairies. 



4 



