ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 161 



brutes, as were those spread before me on Walrus Islet, with any of 

 the strange chapters written as to the ferocity and devilish courage 

 of the Greenland morse. These animals were exceeding cowardlj^; 

 abjectly so. It is with the greatest difficulty that the natives, when a 

 herd of walruses are surprised, can get a second shot at them; so far 

 from clustering attacks around their boats, it is the verj^ reverse; and 

 the hunter's only solicitude is Avhich way to travel in order that he 

 may come up with the fleeing animals as they rise to breathe. Again, 

 I visited Walrus Islet in 1874, accompanied by Lieutenant Maynard, 

 United States Navy, and the captain of the revenue cutter Reliance. 

 We rowed from the ship directly toward the islet, to a point where we 

 saw the accustomed and expected sight of walrus lying thereon. The 

 wind was fair for us and we came up almost to within a boat's oar 

 distance of the dozing, phlegmatic herd. One was singled out, and 

 Captain Baker shot it — his first walrus; the whole herd, as usual, 

 hustled with terrible energy into the water, and all around our boat, 

 for we had not landed, and they did not rise about or near us to give 

 one snort of defiance, or to give us the faintest suggestion of any dis- 

 position to attack us, but they disappeared unpleasantly soon — too 

 quickly. 



Absence of females on Walrus Island. — As I have said before, 

 there are no females on this island, and I can therefore say nothing 

 about them ; I regret it exceedingly. On questioning the natives, as 

 we returned, they told me that the walrus of Bering Sea was monog- 

 amous; and that the difference between the sexes in size, color, and 

 shape is inconsiderable; or, in other words, that until the males are 

 old, the young males and the females of all ages are not remarkably 

 distinct, and would not be at all if it were not for the teeth; they said 

 that the female brings forth her young, a single calf, in June, usually, 

 on the ice floes in the Arctic Ocean, above Bering Straits, between 

 Point Barrow and Cape Seartze Kammin ; that this calf resembles the 

 parent in general proportions and color when it is hardly over six 

 weeks old, but that the tusks (which give it its most distinguishing 

 expression) are not visible until the second year of its life; that the 

 walrus mother is strongly attached to her offspring/ and nurses it 

 later through the season in the sea; that the walrus sleeps prof oundly 

 in the water, floating almost vertically, with barely more than the 

 nostrils above water, and can be easily approached if care is taken as 

 to the wind, so as to spear it or shove a lance into its bowels; that the 

 bulls do not flglit as savagely as the fur seal or the sea lion; that the 

 blunted tusks of these combatants seldom do more than bruise their 



'That the sea lion and the fur seal should be so apathetic when danger to their 

 young arises, and that the clumsy, timid wah-us figlits for their protection to the 

 death under the same circumstances, is somewhat strange. According to all 

 reports which I can gather from repiatable authority, notably Captain Cook's brief, 

 yet explicit, account, the walrus never deserts its young in that manner, hitherto 

 described, so characteristic of the Otariicke of Bering Sea. This odd contrast in 

 behavior is worthy of further attention, as far as the walrus is concerned. There 

 were no females or young among the herds of Rostnarus which I observed at Wal- 

 rus Island, hence I am unable myself to give any facts based upon life studies. 



The reported affection and devotion of the mother walrus seems only natural, 

 being, as it is, the rule throughout all the higher grades of mammalia, while this 

 attitude of the sea lion and fur seal is decidedly opposed to it; and were it not that 

 it was so plainly presented in a thousand and one cases to my senses, I should have 

 seriously doubted its correctness. Still, the best aiithority that I can recognize 

 on the habits of the PJtocida', Kumlein, says that the hair seals all display the 

 same indifference which I portray in this respect as characteristic of the fur seal 

 and sea lion. ( Kumlein : Contributions to the Natural History of Arctic America. 

 Bull. U. S. National Museum, Washington, p. 59, 1879.) 

 H. Doc. 92, pt. 3 11 



