56 EXCURSION. 



feet in length and nine feet girth, and of such 

 prodigious weight that we could scarcely turn 

 them over. In the inside of several there 

 were round granite pebbles, larger than walnuts, 

 and in one we counted two-and-twenty. Their 

 hides were so tough that a bayonet was the 

 only weapon which would pierce them ; and we 

 were not a little surprised at the accounts of 

 the early voyagers already mentioned, in which 

 it is stated, that a thousand of these animals 

 were killed in the short space of seven hours, 

 by the crew of one vessel. Nor were we less 

 curious to find out the manner in which they 

 had contrived to pen up on the shore five 

 hundred walruses alive, and keep them prisoners 

 for several days, as appears to have been the 

 case in one of the voyages alluded to. I can 

 only say, that had such a task been imposed 

 upon us, we should have found it utterly impos- 

 sible to accomplish it. 



One of our earliest excursions in this Bay 

 was an attempt to ascend the peak, which I 

 have already described as Rotge Hill, upon 

 which may now perhaps be seen, at the height of 

 about two thousand feet, a staff that once carried 

 a red flag, which was planted there to mark the 

 greatest height we were able to attain, partly in 

 consequence of the steepness of the ascent, but 



