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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



repeating rifles creep up to a herd, then make a rush, firing right and left. This 

 method is considered unsatisfactory, as many of the animals get away even if they 

 are shot or plunge off into the open water where they sink. Should they be harpooned 

 before sinking, they must be hauled back on the ice field again before they can be 

 skinned, and considering the fact that one walrus weighs from fifteen hundred to six 

 thousand pounds, getting it on the ice again is no small undertaking. 



After as many of a herd as possible have been killed, the walruses are placed in a 

 row ready for skinning. The ivory tusks are removed and saved, also the tail and 

 flippers, the latter when cooked being considered a delicacy by the natives. The 

 hide is used for making boats, towlines, lashing for sleds and soles for boots. In 

 Siberia it is used also for the roof and sides of the summer igloo. Both the hide and 



On receipt of the good news of a passing walrus herd on an ice floe, the men mount the 

 boats on runners made of inflated sealskin pokes and push out over the ice into the water 



ivory are often exchanged to white traders for tobacco, coffee, tea, sugar, ammunition 

 and guns, which the natives have learned to use and appreciate. 



Trading companies employ the natives to hunt for them, paying them with the 

 tails, flippers and half of the ivory. Raw walrus hide brings ten cents per pound in 

 the Pacific coast markets and is used in the manufacture of trunks, purses, suitcases 

 and also in the making of buffing wheels used in the rough finish of cutlery. The 

 ivory is worth from sixty-five cents to one dollar per pound . 



Both Siberia and the United States have laws which are supposed to protect the 

 walrus, but these laws are of little value. They prohibit the killing of walrus within 

 three miles of land while as a matter of fact, the animals are rarely or never found that 

 close to land. Owing to the inadequacy of these laws and the almost universal use 

 of modern firearms among both Eskimo and white hunters, extermination of the 

 walrus will be accomplished in a few years unless steps are immediately taken for 

 effective protection. 



