His CAPTORS. 109 



Fact and Speculation. A Problem for Posterity. 



ing of whales on the sea will be any more pros- 

 ecuted as a business than the hunting of deer 

 on the land ? In one part of the world they 

 have been driven to the deepest recesses of Baf- 

 fin's Bay, and in another to the very confines 

 of the Pacific, and off to the icebergs of the 

 antarctic zone. " Whether their mammoth 

 bones in some distant century shall indicate to 

 the untaught natives of the shores they now 

 frequent that such an animal was, or whether, 

 lurking in the inaccessible and undisturbed wa- 

 ters north of Asia and America, the race shall 

 be preserved, is almost a problem." 



They roamed, they fed, they slept, they died, and left 

 Race after race to roam, feed, sleep, then die, 

 And leave their like through endless generations : 

 So HE ordained, whose way is in the sea, 

 His path amid great waters, and his steps 

 Unknown ! 



