This is the story of a South African boy, Peter, who grows to manhood through a hard course of physical and emotional experiences.The scene, a heroic one, is set both on sea and on land. Peter is exposed to the conflicts set up by other characters, chief amongst whom are a dedicated and fanatical whaling captain, a Zulu stoker, a famous white hunter and his daughter. He learns how men can become obsessed by greed and the will to power; and he witnesses the struggle of natural man to come to terms with the demands of contemporary life.Peter's developing relationship with captain and crew; the fury and beauty of the chase; the fanaticism of the two great hunters - these are the leading motifs in Laurens van der Post's stirring narrative. His remarkable knowledge of whaling, and the force of his imagination sounding deeper then leviathan himself, carry the reader irresistibly forwards.

Since his first novel, In a Province, was published by the Hogarth Press in 1934, Laurens van der Post's books have made a profound impact on readers throughout the English-speaking world, and in many foreign-language editions. One after the other they have been admired for their brilliant descriptive writing, their imaginative insight and their compelling narrative power. His recent recognition by the Book Marketing Council as one of the twenty 'Best of British' writers is but one of the countless tributes that have been paid to his work.

Presented together now for the first time, Laurens van der Post's collected writings will reveal as never before the fullness of his perceptive, wise and remarkably consistent vision. In all of them his inspiration has been that of an adventurous pioneer exploring not just the outward aspects of a turbulent and troubled world but, at a deeper level, the patterns and paradoxes of human life, the myths and dreams of the human mind, the values and cultures of different peoples, the elusive springs of our own people.