By Frank T. Bullen, F.R.G.S. 



1. 



ATURAL HISTORY, at once 

 the most fascinating and 

 widely-followed of all sciences, 

 is now enjoying the full sun- 

 shine of popularity. The life- 

 histories of animals of all kinds 

 are not only being studied with a closeness 

 of attention never before undertaken by so 

 large a number of capable investigators at the 

 same time, but these same students are in 

 many cases lavishly spreading abroad their 

 discoveries in such a manner that the reading 

 thereof is a veritable delight, entrancing as 

 any masterpiece of the human imagination. 

 Perhaps the most perfect proof that can be 

 adduced of the value of this literature is the 

 satisfaction of the children with it. For that 

 story which can at once profoundly interest 

 the highest intellect of an adult and hold 

 captive the other-world mind of a child may 

 be pronounced as nearly perfect as anything 

 is permitted to be in this world of unsatisfied 

 longings. 



Amidst the universal chorus of praise 

 which my first attempt at book-writing, "The 

 Cruise of the Cachalot," received, nothing 

 gave me such deep satisfaction as that the 

 children loved it ; they weren't bored by the 

 simple stories told of the great creatures that 

 inhabit the deep, wide sea. And this know- 



ledge has made me eager to try again — to 

 return to the subject of whales in a different 

 manner, in the hope that the little people 

 as well as the grown-ups will enjoy a journey 

 among the whale -folk as one of them- 

 selves, and not as the fierce destroyers 

 only anxious for blubber. 



Let me try to introduce the reader to 

 the family life of some of my friends. Of 

 course, the majority of people now know 

 that a whale is not a fish, and, conse- 

 quently, has none of the cannibalistic pro- 

 pensities of fish. Practically all fish, the 

 scanty exceptions of the sharks and stickle- 

 backs only going to prove the rule in the 

 good old way, are utterly disregardful of the 

 claims of parentage. This is hardly to be 

 wondered at when we remember the size 

 of fish families. It would be rather too 

 much to expect tenderness upon the part of 

 a parent towards an offspring running into 

 millions in number, especially when we have 

 the knowledge that they are compelled to 

 leave their newly-laid eggs to be hatched in 

 their absence by some other agency than 

 theirs. And we must not think too hardly 

 of them either, knowing the rigorous condi- 

 tions of life in the sea — simply to eat and be 

 eaten is the life - history of fish — if they, 

 meeting with some of their own children, 



