202 The Albacore 



members to their full content. And we had come 

 all round the world for this ! The terrible massacre 

 was proceeding at many places with the utmost fury, 

 and in mid-sea queerly rigged feluccas were luring 

 individuals with huge rods and stout lines ; an easy 

 task, for we were all so ravenous that a fluttering piece 

 of rag was at once mistaken for a flying-fish or squid, 

 and eagerly snapped at. 



Oh, it was a black and awful time for us, and yet 

 in spite of the elaborate preparations made ever5rwhere 

 for our capture, and of our utter want of forethought 

 or attempt to avoid those deadly shores, it is certain 

 that only the mere fringes of our great host were cap- 

 tured. But those of us who escaped could claim no 

 credit for superior wisdom or greater skill in avoiding 

 danger. We survived, because for one thing the sea 

 is so wide and so deep, even the Mediterranean, that 

 man is closely limited in his powers of destruction, 

 and because, there being so many of us, all could not 

 get inshore at once to where the traps were laid for 

 us. Also, the majority of us were bound farther 

 eastward to the ^Egean, to those quiet spawning-beds 

 where I was born, and where in due time I arrived 

 again after visiting aU the tropical and temperate 

 parts of the oceans of the world down to a depth of 

 one hundred fathoms. 



Then commenced the all-important business of our 

 visit. The females in long ranks settled down upon 

 the pleasant smooth patches of sandy sea-floor in all 

 the sheltered nooks so well remembered, and deposited 

 with utmost care and regularity their burdens of 

 pearly eggs in long, level rows. Behind them swam 

 the males, steadily, methodically distributing milt 

 and spreading it evenly with quiet wavings of broad 

 tails, at the game time keeping a wary eye open for 



