MAMMALS. 269 



One huuter told me of au iustauce iu which he aud a compaiiiou, both iu kyaks, had au 

 eucouuter with one of these animals. They were huntiug among the drift ice off Cape Vancouver 

 one day in spring, when his companion saw and killed a young Walrus without knowing that the old 

 one was about. A moment later the parent arose from the water aud catching sight of them uttered 

 a hoarse, bellowing cry aud swam rapidly towards them. Both hunters paddled for their lives to a 

 large piece of ice close by aud landed upon it just in time to escape their pursuer. Here they were 

 kept prisoners nearly the entire day, and every time they tried to leave, thinking their enemy gone, 

 they were pursued and forced to return to the ice again. 



The people of Bering Straits often meet vicious Walruses at this seasou. In one instance 

 which came to my hearing a Walrus broke a hole in the top of a man's kyak with its tusks, but 

 the man escaped. ^JSTumerous tales are told of their pursuing hunters. 



Along the Arctic coast of Alaska and Siberia they are numerous iu summer, keeping with 

 the pack-ice aud moving offshore with it. In Kotzebue Sound they are unknown or very rare, 

 but are taken iu considerable numbers from Poiut Hope to Point Barrow. In autumn they all 

 leave this region and pass through Bering Straits, wintering along the southern edge of the pack- 

 ice in Bering Sea. While we were cruisiug along the edge of the icepack in the Arctic, north of 

 the straits, in July and August, 1881, we frequently saw large numbers of Walruses uijou the ice 

 lying iu bunches, which are called "pods" by the whalers and walrus-hunters. 



The hearing of these animals is so defective that a man can creep up on the leeward of a 

 "pod," aud if he kills the animal on guard at the first shot he may then proceed to kill the entire 

 lot, as they do not heed the report of the gun in the least. A gun carrying a 45-caliber ball is often 

 used, but a 50-caliber is better for this work. A shot striking the nape so as to enter the base of 

 the skull or to shatter some of the cervical vertebrae is almost the only one which is instantaneously 

 fatal, owing to the thickness of the skull in front and on the sides and the animal's tenacity of life. 

 Their sense of smell is claimed to be very acute, aud the hunters are careful to approach them from 

 the leeward side. 'SVhen basking on the ice they keep near the water and tumble clumsily iu at 

 the first alarm. 



As we coasted along the north Siberian shore in July a number of them were seen as we 

 steamed along the edge of the pack. They were all on small ice-cakes, and as we drew near they 

 would raise their heads and gaze at us a moment aud then slide backwards oft' the ice and disappear 

 in the most amusing manner. 



We saw many females with their young in various parts of the Arctic during July aud August, 

 aud the jealous watchfulness of the mothers was noticeable. The young nearly always swam 

 directly in front of its parent, aud iu diving the latter carried the little one down by resting her 

 tusks on its shoulders and forcing it under the water. An adult male measured by Mr. Elliott ou 

 Walrus Island was nearly 13 feet long with a girth of 1-1 feet about the slioulders. 



When the Eussians first occupied the Fur Seal Islands the walrus was very numerous there, 

 but the seal hunters soon drove them from Saint Paul and Saint George. Ou Walrus Island they 

 were not troubled, aud Mr. Elliott found a herd of about five hundred bulls iu possession there up 

 to 187i; since then they have greatly diminished in numbers there, and will eventually entirely 

 disappear. Their skin is a mottled yellowish-brown, with very short, rough bristles scattered over 

 it. It is wrinkled into folds all about the ueck and shoulders. The animal's posteriors are dispro- 

 portionately small as compared with the anterior half of the body. The males exceed the females 

 in size and reach a ton or more in weight. 



iChe tusks of the female are long and slender and aie usually curved inward so that the points 

 nearly touch. The tusks of the males are shorter and stouter, with the ends several inches apart. 

 The largest pair of tusks I ever saw weighed IG pounds, and they were far larger than the average. 



The tusks are used in digging clams, also to aid them iu climbing upon the ice or to land on a 

 rocky shore, and in their battles are used as effective weapons. From the paunch of a walrus 

 Elliott took over a bushel of clams, many of which were not crushed. 



I have heard the walrus-hunters say that these animals, when on shore, often keep guard by 

 gathering in a body, and then as the leader falls asleep his head drops and he prods the next 

 animal with his tusks; as the latter falls asleep he repeats the performance, aud so there is one of 

 the animals continuously on the alert. 



