FAREWELL TO VAU VAU. 275 



the paucity of their numbers as a consequence of much 

 harassing could not be reasonably offered. Still, after 

 centuries of whale-fishing, little is known of the real 

 habits of whales. Where there is abundance of " feed," 

 in the case of Mysticeta it may be reasonably inferred that 

 whales may be found in proportionately greater numbers. 

 With regard to the wider-spread classes of the great 

 marine mammalia, beyond the fact, ascertained from 

 continued observation, that certain parts of the ocean 

 are more favoured by them than others, there is 

 absolutely no data to go upon as to why at times they 

 seem to desert their usual haunts and scatter themselves 

 far and wide. 



The case of the cachalot is still more difficult. All 

 the Balaenae seem to be compelled, by laws which we 

 can only guess at, to frequent the vicinity of land 

 possessing shallows at their breeding times, so that they 

 may with more or less certainty be looked for in such 

 places at the seasons which have been accurately fixed. 

 They may be driven to seek other haunts, as was 

 undoubtedly the case at Vau Vau in a great measure, 

 by some causes unknown, but to land they must come 

 at those times. The sperm whale, however, needs no 

 shelter at such periods, or, at any rate, does not avail 

 herself of any. They may often be seen in the vicinity 

 of land where the water is deep close to, but seldom 

 with calves. Schools of cows with recently-born young 

 gambolling about them are met with at immense 

 distances from land, showing no disposition to seek 

 shelter either. For my part, I firmly believe that the 

 cachalot is so terrible a foe, that the great sharks who 

 hover round a gravid cow of the Balaense, driving her in 

 terror to some shallow spot where she may hope to 

 protect her young, never dare to approach a sperm cow 



