CHAPTER IV 



THE "VOICE" OF WHALES AND SOME 

 INTERESTING HABITS 



FOR me, developing the photographic negatives 

 after a trip at sea is almost as fascinating as 

 taking them, and no secret treasure chest was 

 ever opened with greater interest than is the develop- 

 ing box. After my first expedition a tank developer 

 was always used, for I invariably became so excited 

 watching the image appear upon the plate that sev- 

 eral were ruined by being held too long before the 

 red lamp. 



I shall never forget the breathless interest with 

 which I developed the negative exposed when the 

 humpback whale came up beneath the ship during the 

 trip described in the previous chapter. I had had 

 no time to focus the camera, and really expected a 

 blurred picture, but still there was just a chance that 

 it might be good. The image appearing on the plate 

 slowly assumed form and I saw that it was a pic- 

 ture of the great body partly hidden beneath the ship. 

 No one but a naturalist can ever know what it meant 

 to get that photograph and how impatiently I waited 

 until it could be taken from the hypo bath and ex- 

 amined. 



I found that the plate had been exposed just after 



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