480 THE GERMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



then seems to be provided with a store, for now it dives 

 in reahty, and is seldom seen again. 



Wah'us -hunting is very dangerous, for in its fury this 

 animal can break through ice six inches thick. If, there- 

 fore, it is not met with on strong old ice, it is necessary 

 to change one's place very quickly, for (as is the case with 

 all mammals) the walrus is obliged to come to the surface 

 of cracks, or ice-holes, kept open for the purpose, in order 

 to breathe every ten minutes. The animals notice exactly 

 the direction and the distance of their enemy, and emerge 

 at the spot to meet and destroy him. Returning from 

 the sledge journey from Tiroler Fjord, we had abundant 

 opportunity of proving this. 



Contrasted with its ferocity in the water there is no- 

 thing more innocent and harmless than a herd of walruses 

 sunning themselves on an ice-floe or the shore, or, indeed, 

 sleeping on the water ; but unfortunately the com- 

 parison with a torpedo (which, for fear of some accident, 

 one dares not touch) is only too well founded. A single 

 ice-floe often bears twenty and sometimes a much larger 

 number of these creatures, their dark, sphynx-like bodies 

 lying close together; the head, from their long tusks, 

 leaning sideways or upon one another; and thus they 

 sleep away the greater part of their existence in the sun, 

 lulled by the rushing and roaring of the breakers. The 

 walrus, surprised on shore or on an ice-field, is utterly 

 helpless ; and although it strikes furiously on all sides with 

 its teeth, is just as harmless as it is terrible when its anger 

 is roused in the water. One peculiarity, which under 

 some circumstances may be very dangerous, is its great 

 curiosity. 



Should one of these monsters see a boat, it raises itself 



