GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 175 



a, still smaller portion of the opposite American coast. To the 

 westward the Walrus appears not to have been traced beyond 

 Cape Schelatskoi (157 30' east longitude), and to have occurred 

 in large herds only as far west as Koljutschin Island (185 east 

 longitude). These herds are reported as composed almost solely 

 of males, the females rarely passing- beyond the mouth of the 

 Kolyma Eiver.* Wrangell, who passed two winters at the 

 mouth of the Kolyma River, asserts confidently that the Wal- 

 rus of Behring's Straits were abundant at Cape Jakan (176 30' 

 east longitude), but only once reached Cape Schelatskoi, while 

 he found them numerous at Koljutschin Island. Thence east- 

 ward they form the chief subsistence of the Tschutschi.t 



On the eastern coast of Asia, Steller (according to von Baer) 

 reports that as early as 1742 none were killed by the Russians 

 south of Karagiuskoi Island in latitude CO . He reports, how- 

 ever, finding one on the southern point of Kaintschatka, but von 

 Baer questions whether in this isolated instance of its supposed 

 occurrence so far south there may not be some mistake, and 

 that the animal was really a large Seal or a Sea-cow (Rliytina).\ 

 Krashiiminikow states that in his day they were confined to the 

 northern seas. He says, "On voit pen de chevaux inarms dans 

 les environs de KanitscltatJxt, ou si 1'on en trouve, ce n'est que 

 dans les mers qui sont an nord. On en preiid beaucoup plus 

 ] >res du cap Tchukotskoi, oil ils y sont plus gros & plus nombreux 

 que par-tout ailleurs". Liitke found a dead one as far south 

 as Karagiuskoi Ostrow (latitude 58). || Higher up the coast 

 from Cape Thaddeus northward and westward, they were met 

 Avith in great numbers by the early Russian explorers. In the 

 Arctic Sea north of Behriug's Straits they have been met with 

 abundantly as far north as ships have penetrated, their north- 

 ward range being only limited by the unbroken ice sheet. 



On the American coast they have been traced eastward only 

 as far as Point Barrow, where they were observed by Beechey 



* See von Middendorff, Sibiriscke Reise, Bd. iv, p. 936, footnote. 



t "Auf cler Inscl Koliutschin werden manchmal eine grosse Menge Wall- 

 rosse erlegt, inclem die Eingebornen sie, wenn sie aus deni Meere anf das Ufer 

 steigen, pliitzlich iiberfallen, ihneri deii Riickweg iiis Wasser abschneideii 

 imd mit Peitschen und Stocken welter hinauftreiben, wo sie sie dann mit 

 lei filter Miihe erlegen. Das Wallross 1st dern sitzeuden Tsckuktsclien, wenii 

 aucli nielit so unmittelbar, docli fast eben so allgt.'mciii uiitzlick, als deni 

 Nomaden das Rennthier." Nordkiiste von Sibirien, vol. ii, 1839, pp. 224, 225. 



tSee von Baer, 1. c., p. 183. 



Hist. deKamtsch., etc., as translated "by "M. E. . . ." (Eklous), toni. 1, 

 1767, p. 283. 



II Voyage autour du Monde, tom. ii, p. 178. 



