WHALE HUNTING WITH GUN AND CAMERA 



fiercely; luckily Ponting kept his feet and was able to fly 

 to security. By an extraordinary chance also, the splits had 

 been made around and between the dogs, so that neither 

 of them fell into the water. Then it was clear that the 

 whales shared our astonishment, for one after another their 

 huge hideous heads shot vertically into the air through the 

 cracks which they had made. As they reared them to a 

 height of 6 or 8 feet it was possible to see their tawny 

 head markings, their small glistening eyes, and their terrible 

 array of teeth by far the largest and most terrifying in the 

 world. There cannot be a doubt that they looked up to 

 see what had happened to Ponting and the dogs. 



The latter were horribly frightened and strained to their 

 chains whining; the head of one killer must certainly have 

 been within 5 feet of one of the dogs. 



After this, whether they thought the game insignificant, 

 or whether they missed Ponting is uncertain, but the ter- 

 rifying creatures passed on to other hunting grounds, and 

 we were able to rescue the dogs, and, what was even more 

 important, our petrol 5 or 6 tons of which was waiting 

 on a piece of ice which was not split away from the main 

 mass. 



Of course, we have known well that killer whales con- 

 tinually skirt the edge of the floes and that they would 

 undoubtedly snap up any one who was unfortunate enough 

 to fall into the water; but the facts that they could display 

 such deliberate cunning, that they were able to break ice 

 of such thickness (at least 2^ feet), and that they could 

 act in unison, were a revelation to us. It is clear that 

 they are endowed with singular intelligence, and in future 

 we shall treat that intelligence with every respect. 1 



Dr. Charles H. Townsend, Director of the New 



1 "Scott's Last Expedition." Arranged by Leonard Huxley. 

 New York, 1913, Vol. I, pp. 65-66. 



218 



