In all Jack London’s works, there are differences between the versions printed in periodicals and in books. The first book edition, however, is the version on which London himself put his stamp of authority, and this version has been chosen as the basis of these texts. Only a few changes into modern usage in spelling and punctuation have been included.
‘The Chinago’ is taken from The Chinago, published by the Macmillan Company in New York in 1911. ‘The House of Mapuhi’, ‘The Whale Tooth’, ‘Mauki’ and ‘The Seed of McCoy’ were published in South Sea Tales by the Macmillan Company in 1911. ‘Good-By, Jack’, ‘The Sheriff of Kona’ and ‘Koolau the Leper’ were published in The House of Pride and Other Tales of Hawaii by the Macmillan Company in 1912. And ‘The Bones of Kahekili’, ‘When Alice Told Her Soul’, ‘Shin-Bones’ and ‘The Water Baby’ were published in On the Makaloa Mat by the Macmillan Company in 1919 after Jack London’s death.