620 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, lss-> 



"The teeth of the sayd fishes, whereof 1 have seen a dry fat fall at 

 ouce, are a foote and sometimes more in length : and have been sold in 

 England to the eombe and knife makers at 8 groats and 3 shillings the 

 pound weight whereas the best Ivory is solde for halfe the money." 

 Tiie Pacific walrus never had so extensive range as its relative of the 

 Atlantic, reaching in scattered numbers to about 55 degrees north, on 

 the American coast and (10 degrees on the Asiatic coast, and extend- 

 ing thence northwards to the limit of ice. Point Barrow on the east 

 and Cape Schelatskoi (157° 30' east longitude) on the west seem to be 

 the natural boundaries of < he Pacific walrus, the species being unusually 

 abundant at Bristol Bay, Alaska. The existence of the Pacific walrus 

 was made known not far from 1640 or 1645, but it did not become a 

 regular object of pursuit until about 1860, its immunity being due to 

 the fact that whaling was far more profitable than the pursuit of the 

 walrus. As the whale decreased in numbers the whalemen directed 

 their attention more and more to the walruses, and between 1870 and 1880 

 there was brought to market 1,996,000 gallons of oil and 398,868 pounds 

 of walrus ivory, these amounts representing the destruction of not far 

 from 100,000 animals. Although far inferior to elephant ivory the de- 

 mand for walrus tusks is nevertheless great, and while the price per 

 pound was, in 1879, but 40 or 45 cents, it was worth in 1880 $1 to $1.25 

 per pound, and in 1883 $4 to $4.50. Being rather a stupid animal, and 

 with due caution readily approached when on the ice, under favorable 

 conditions the walrus is slaughtered iu much the same manner as the 

 bison was killed by skin hunters. In making a shot, as it is technically 

 termed, a man provided with one or two rifles and an abundance of am- 

 munition approaches the herd from leeward, and picking off the more 

 wakeful or more suspicious animals first, proceeds to kill the walruses 

 until so many have been secured as can be handled or until the herd 

 becomes alarmed and takes to the water. The Pacific walrus is in 

 greater danger of extermination than its congener of the Atlantic, owing 

 to the fact that the range of the species is restricted, while its haunts 

 are regularly resorted to by the North Pacific whaling fleet, whose 

 crews, as previously stated, devote considerable time to the chase of the 

 walrus, and have reduced the numbers of this huge animal about one- 

 half during the last ten years. 



AUTHORITIES. 



Marine Mammals of the Northwestern Coast of North America. Charles M. Scammon. 

 San. Francisco, 187 i. 



History of North American Pinnipeds. .1. A. Allen. Washington, 1880. 



The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the Tinted States. Section Y. Washing- 

 ton. 1^87. « 



