THE WALRUS. 479 



weighs about 20 cwt., and its skin is oh inches thick 

 (a sort of massive coat of mail), with a head of infinite 

 ughness, rather large eyes, and tusks sometimes 30 inches 

 long (of a sort of ivory), which helps the creature to 

 obtain his food (chiefly mussels) from the bottom of the 

 sea, and, together with the breast-fins, help him to climb 

 on to the floating ice to a place of rest. Round his jaws 

 are long cat-like bristles, as thick as a large darning- 

 needle. Demoniacal as his appearance is, his voice is as 

 bad — a jerking, imitative scream, lowing and puffing, 

 often repeated, and in which it seems to delight. Walruses 

 and seals, from their richness in train-oil, are highly esti- 

 mated in the Arctic fishery, and are invaluable to the 

 Esquimaux — indeed, in many cases when, either from the 

 blocking up of the coast with ice or the retreating of the 

 herd, they have been unable to catch any, they have 

 almost died of hunger. One way the Esquimaux have 

 of killing the seals is to approach them by degrees with 

 a white screen, behind which they crouch, and another 

 by lying in ambush amongst the ice and harpooning 

 them. 



One of the largest walruses that we saw was killed on 

 the ice, near Shannon, on the 27tli of August, 1869, by Dr. 

 Copeland. It measured 9 feet 11 inches in length. The 

 skin is particularly flexible and soft, and the leather we 

 used for straps for the machinery. 



The time it remains under water depends (I think) 

 upon the time the creature has had for preparation. If 

 a walrus is suddenly hunted from his sleep into the water, 

 it must rise again immediately to the surface. Now it 

 takes a deep breath. If it is again hunted, it comes up 

 again ; if this is repeated five or six times, the walrus 



