ALASKA. 1G3 



turn treated in tlie snnie way by the third, and so on, until 

 hundreds will be packed together on the shore as thickly as 

 they can lie, frequently pillowin*' their heads or posteriors 

 upon the bodies of one another, and not at all (piarrelsoine ; as 

 they i)ass all the time when on land in sluggish basking or deep 

 sleep, they seem to resoit to a very singular method of keeping 

 guard, if I may so term it, for in this herd of three or four hun- 

 dred bulls under my eye, though all were sleeping, yet the 

 movement of one would disturb the other, which would raise its 

 head in a stupid manner, grunt once or twice, and before lying 

 down to sleep again, in a few moments, it would strike the 

 slumbering form of its nearest companion with its tusks, caus- 

 ing that animal to rouse up for a few minutes also, grunt and 

 pass the blow on to the next in the same manner, and so on, 

 through the whole herd; this disturbance among themselves 

 always kept some one or two aroused, and consequently more 

 alert than the rest. 



In moving on land they have no power in the hind limbs, 

 which are dragged and twitched up behind ; progression is 

 slowly and tediously made by a succession of short steps forward 

 on the fore feet. How long they remain out from the water at 

 any one time I am unable to say. Unlike the seals, they breathe 

 heavily and snore. 



The natives told me that the walrus of Bering Sea is 

 monogamous, and that the difference between the sexes in size, 

 color, and shape is inconsiderable ; that the female brings forth 

 her young, a single calf, in June, usually on the ice-floes in the 

 Arctic Ocean, above Bering Straits; that the calf closely 

 resembles the parent in general proportio«ns and color, but 

 that the tusks which give it its most distinguishing expression 

 arc not visible until the end of the second year of its life; that 

 the walrus mother is strongly attached to her offspring, and 

 nurses it later in the season in the sea ; that the walrus sleeps 

 profoundly in the water, floating almost vertically, w ith barely 

 more than the nostrils above water, and can be easily ap- 

 proached, if care is taken, to within easy spearing-distance ; 

 that the bulls do not flglit as savagely as the lur-seal or sea- 

 lion, the blunted tushes of the combatants seldom penetrate 

 the thick hide ; that they can remain under water nearly an 

 hour, or about twice as long as the seals, and that they sink 

 like so many stones immediately after being shot. 



These animals are seldom molested on Walrus Island, the 



