DANIEL AND THE WHALE HUNTERS: The Adventures of a Portuguese Boy in a Whaling Town in the Azores

After following 15 year-old Daniel Martiniano through three days of chores, whaling (his first time out) and celebrating (at the five-day Festival of the Holy Spirit), readers will have absorbed something of how it is to live in Lajes do Pico in the Azores Archipelago. Though the whaling episode is the climax of Daniel's weekend, it properly occupies only a portion of the photostory, as even the whalers have other occupations and only take to their boats in season and when whales are sighted. Wolf reports that both the boats and methods of Pico whaling were introduced by whalers of New Bedford, Massachusetts, in the early 19th century and are still substantially unchanged (oddly he doesn't mention the alarming decline of the whale population and the implications of this situation for the Pico way of life). Remarkably natural unposed photographs provide close acquaintance with the people, their customs and their surroundings.