502 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC llEGIONS. 



SECT. II. 



^onie Account of tlic (Quadrupeds inhabiting Spit: 

 her gen, and the Icy Seas adjacent. 



TmcHECus Rosmarus: — Walrus, Morse, or Sen-Horse of 

 the Whale-fishers. 



This singular animal forms the connecting link 

 between the mammalia of the land and the water, 

 corresponding, in several of its characters, both with 

 the bullock and the whale. It grows to the bulk 

 of an ox. Its canine teeth, two in number, are of 

 the length, externally, of 10 to 20 inches, (some 

 naturalists say 3 feet,) and extend downward from 

 the upper jaw, and include the point of the lower 

 jaw between them. They are incurvated inward. 

 Their full length, when cut out of the skull, is com- 

 monly 15 to 20 inches, sometimes almost 30 ; and 

 their weight 5 to 10 pounds each, or upward. The 

 walrus, being a slow, clumsy animal on land, its 

 tusks seem necessary for its defence against the 

 bear, and also for enabling it to raise its unweildy 

 body upon the ice, when its access to the shore is 

 prevented. 



The walrus is found on the shores of Spitzber- 

 gen, 12 to 15 feet in length, and 8 to 10 feet in 

 ^circumference. The head is sliort, small, and flat- 



