New-York tribune., 1899-06-10
SAILOR YARNS.
a NEW BOOK BY THE AUTHOR OF THE
CRUISE OF THE cACHALoT."

HD4LLS Sr first Mate With an Introductisosn to by H
J. ST. Loe strachey. 12mo. pp XVI -''
Appleton & Co.
Mr.. Bullens second book is worthy oi n''
sor., ana that is saying a great deal. the
r,r,,,se of the Cachalot" is one or the pes' 7eA
hooks ever written. 1t is more or less OF d
.u.ta,ned narrative "Idylls of the Sea-" which
q. made up OF thirty different sketches. deserves
r-a,.e as warm as any bestowed upon Hs
r.aecsssor The author has three. notaple
n,.r,ts He knows his subject thoroughly ne IL
enthusiastically sympathetic in his treatment
,$,t and somewhere he has picked up styie
mat ~ sometimes a little forid. is always clear
and revealing Fortune appears 10 nave put ai
sorts OF odd occurrences In his pain nc no'
sean the kraken and the whale nghtihe W 'io
aeath: he has been lifted on high py "a'ei
.nout. he has been adrfft all alone OH u0''
,Ic, and any number of other thrliiins 'h''e'
. have happened to him. But he is not sen'a-
tjonal writer. and one does not read MN nieie
for the tales of horror and adventure lna' he
tells Perhaps his best work is done "heh nc
is describing say THE Birth OF an isiai"
n,c,uring with imaginative power the slow rise
of the reef from the sea, Its transmosrih0a"o'
as vegetation finds more ana more S"
which to bury its roots. and animal hie at iaS'
arrives to inhabit the palm groves or' DIS
conparable with this sketch. for insight iilo
the ways Of Wild nature and for capacity u
nut a daring hypothesis into luminous plose'
we may cite 1.-The Loss OF the Frst nolh' 1"
,h,s the author follows mother whale and her
consort TO the haven discovered by the la'le''
c,t. mother rests there in peace and suckles her
new calf After brief period OF piss sle
nroves helpless to save the little one at her sue
tror, the onslaught OF a swordfish. This narra-
+,ve 10 only five pages long. but the whole range
NJ those emotions with which the author COVERS
his whales is dramatically exploited. and pict-
uresoue piece Of imaginative writing stays IN
the mind like the life history Of creature with
feelings and thoughts fairly human.
II ia interesting to note too, that Mr. Bullen
does not. by touching the human note. turn MS
whales into fabulous creatures he writes
rather as Kipling writes in THE jungle BOOK
with sympathy and penetration breaking
down the barriers between animal ana hu-
man life MI Bullen makes no pretence OF rea-
soning soemnly about the "psychoiogy Oh
either man or animal. He gets at the hnermos'
sensations of both apparently without eHor''
quite spontaneously, and as though II were al
an the days work. Some OF his STORIES HAe
.oIhe Passing OF Peter" in which death at sea
is described with singuarly VIVA eApIlca'ioh
of the emotions reused in the sailors WdtcHine
s., ,ho s,rcken man recall the strain of profound
analysis which Mr.. Joseph Conrad mas la'ely
.xbibited in his remarkable studies Of the sea-
There are in the present volume nall oozeh
examples of Mr. Bullen's faculty for utterlng
perfectly the rarely spoken reflections OF the
seamsn who ia constantly brought face to face
with conditions appalling and mysterious Yet
A. obse,ce Of ANYTHING like self-cOnsciousness
,aoyes these chapters with freshness such as
one expects only in the narratives OF concrete
things The only difference is that the 1oriher
10 be enjoyed must be read intact FROM the
purely descriptive articles we may saleiy quo'e
a massage as for example. this fragment or
Running the Fasting Down." a wonderfully
true picture Of a ship racing along under wind
almost too favorable
Everv one Of her thrty-four wings were
spread ana drawing: for the wind peing Wen on
The quarter. allowed of the yards being canted
forward while the ship went STEADY as a
church." with ten degree list TO port sun
the wind increased and faster drove the snip,
until by daylight she was going full sixteen
knots. (which. in spite of the Yankee yarns
anent the James Baines, her main skysail ana
her twenty-one knots. is about the maximum
possible under sail The first cherries CLEANS
OF the new day revealed an awe-nspirng view.
Far,'as could be seen the ocean surface was
torn into snowy foam by the raging wind. for
the sea had not yet time TO Get into the gi-
gantie stride II would presently take in SYM
pathy with the irresistible march of the all
, compelling storm. Fine breeze. SIR chuckled
2 the mate, rubbing his hands with delight. only
hope it'll hold" replied the skipper peerne
keenly aft into the eye of the wind. There. tC
a landsman. the sight was ominous, almost ap-
palline. Dense masses Of distorted nimbu:
came hurting out of the deep gloom, which
seemed to grow blacker and more menacins
e every hour. So through the bowling day the
big ship fed onward like a frightened thing
: steady and straight an ice yacht over Lake
Michigan although at times an incpent ses
- smote her broadside and, baff1ed cast its cres
: aloft where the shrieking blast caught II anC
whirled II in needlelke particles as high as the
upper topsails
When night drew in the sea had fairly risen
and came believing along in mountanou.
2 masses many miles In length at a speed thai
bade fair to Overtake the fleeing ship. Strange
q II was 10 note how, as the waves grew, the shiI
seemed TO dwindle until her huge bulk appeared
quite insignificant And now, at frequent inter
walls. enormous bodies of broken water hurled
themselves on board. often filling the spacious
decks flush fore and aft with a seethng food
3 And still the "old man" hung on his courage
rewarded by weeks run of over two thousand
miles without the loss Of a ropeyarn.
d. The value of work like this is in it's pictorial
clearness. and in the accuracy which any one
= who has passed through a storm at sea like the
one described will instantly appreciate There
is not a faltering touch. there is not shade OF
= disproportion between what is technical and
what is general. Indeed. the crowning virtue
r OF Mr.. Bullen as writer is that he is neither
y pedant nor an amateur ne neither faunts
his knowledge conceals IT. but makes II
part and parcel of pages which landsmen anG
seamen alike must admire for their imaginative
charm and their truth
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