120 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



below, but this is said to be a very long time. If a hunting 

 boat meets a walrus sleeping in this way it is first wakened witli 

 a loud " strike up " before it is harpooned, " in order that in 

 its fright it may not knock a hole in the boat with its tusks." 

 The walrus sinks and is lost, if he is killed by a shot while in 

 the water, or if he be shot while lying on a piece of ice, but 

 without being killed so instantaneously that he cannot cast 

 himself into the water in his death struggles. He is killed 

 accordingly almost exclusively with the harpoon or lance. 



The harpoon consists of a large 

 and strong iron hook, very sharp 

 on the outer edge, and provided with 

 a barb. The hook is loosely fixed 

 to the shaft, but securely fastened 

 to the end of a slender line ten 

 fathoms long, generally made of 

 walrus hide. The line is fastened 

 at its other end to the boat, in the 

 forepart of which it lies in a carefully 

 arranged coil. There are from five 

 to ten such harpoon lines in every 

 hunting boat. When the hunters 

 see a herd of walrus, either on a 

 piece of drift-ice or in the water, 

 they endeavour silently and against 

 the wind to approach sufficiently 

 near to one of the animals to be able 

 to harpoon it. If this is managed, 

 the walrus first dives and then 

 endeavours to swim under water all 

 he can. But he is fixed with the 

 line to the boat, and must draw it 

 along with him. His comrades 

 swim towards the boat, curious to 

 ascertain the cause of the alarm. 

 A new walrus is fixed with another 

 harpoon, and so it goes on, one after 

 another, until all the harpoons are 

 in use. The boat is now drawn forward at a whizzing speed, 

 although the rowers hold back with the oars ; but there is no 

 actual danger as long as all the animals draw in the same 

 direction. If one of them seeks to take a different course 

 from that of his comrades in misfortune, his line must be cut 

 off, otherwise the boat capsizes. When the walruses get exhausted 

 by their exertions and by loss of blood, the hunters begin to 

 haul in the lines. One animal after the other is drawn to the 

 stem of the boat, and there they commonly first get a blow on 



HUNTING IMPLEMENTS. 



(1) Harpoon, and (2) Lance for Walrus- 

 hunting. (3)" Skottel " for the capture 

 of the White Whale. 

 One-fifteenth of natural size. 



