III.] WALRUS CHARACTER rSTlCS. 121 



the head with the flat of a lance, and when they turn to guard 

 against it, a lance is thrust into the heart. Since breechloaders 

 have begun to be used by the walrus-hunters, they often prefer to 

 kill the harpooned walruses with a ball instead of " lancing " them. 

 To shoot an unharpooned walrus, on the other hand, the walrus 

 hunters formerly considered an unpardonable piece of though t- 

 lessness, because the animal was in this way generally wounded 

 or killed without any advantage accruing. They therefore 

 expressed themselves with great irritation against the tourists who 

 sometimes came to Spitzbergen, and in this way destroyed the 

 hunting. It cannot however be denied that they themselves in 

 recent times have often followed the bad example, and many 

 consider that this is one of the main reasons of the great dim- 

 inution in the numbers of the walrus of late years. Should 

 an international code be established for hunting in the Polar sea, 

 all sliooting of unharpooned waliiises ought to be forbidden in 

 the first place. 



Gregariousness and curiosity appear to be the main charac- 

 teristics of the walrus. These qualities of theirs I had an 

 opportunity of observing when once, on a glorious northern 

 summer day, I roAved forward over a mirror-bright, drift-ice - 

 bestrewn sea right into the midst of a considerable herd of 

 these animals. Part followed the boat long distances quite 

 peaceably, now and then emitting a grunting sound ; others 

 swam quite close, and raised themselves high out of the water 

 in order to take a view of the foreigners ; others, again, lay 

 so closely packed on pieces of drift-ice as to sink them down 

 to the water's edge, while their comrades swimming about 

 in the sea endeavoured with violence to gain a place on the 

 already overfilled resting-places, though a number of unoccupied 

 pieces of ice floated up and down in the neighbourhood. 



When the hunters have killed a female walrus, it often 

 happens that they take the young living. It is easily 

 tamed, and soon regards its keeper with warm attachment. It 

 seeks, as best it can — poorly equipped as it is for moving about 

 on dry land — to follow the seamen on the deck, and gives 

 itself no rest if it be left alone. Unfortunately, one does not 

 succeed in keeping them long alive, probably because it is 

 impossible to provide them with suitable food. There are 

 instances, however, of the young of the walrus being brought 

 to Europe alive. Thus it is said (Purchas, iii., p. 500), that 

 Master Welden and Stephen Bennet, on the f|t"h'' July, 1608, 

 caught two young walruses alive, one a male and the other 

 a female. The female died before they reached England, but 

 the male lived ten weeks. He was carried to court, shown 

 to the king and many honourable gentlemen, and excited 

 general admiration for his extraordinary form and great docility. 



