PREFACE 



In this book I have endeavored to tell of modern 

 shore whaling as I have seen it during the past eight 

 years while collecting and studying cetaceans for the 

 American Museum of Natural History. This work 

 carried me twice around the world, as well as north- 

 ward on two expeditions to Alaska, and southward to 

 the tropic waters of Borneo and the Dutch East Indies. 



I have also tried to give, in a readable way, some 

 of the most interesting facts about whales and their 

 habits, confining myself, however, to those species 

 which form the basis of the shore whaling industry, 

 or are commercially important, and which have come 

 under my personal observation. 



In all of this work the camera has necessarily played 

 a large part, for it is only by means of photographs 

 that whales can be seen in future study as they appear 

 alive or when freshly killed. It is hardly necessary 

 to say that the photographing has been intensely in- 

 teresting, and to any one who is in search of real ex- 

 citement I can heartily recommend camera hunting 

 for whales. 



It should be understood that this book is in no sense 

 a manual of the large Cetacea. I hope, however, at 

 some future time to write a volume which will treat 

 of this wonderful mammalian order in a less casual 



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