ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 167 



and who made use of their ivory, en voyage, in repairing his rude 

 shallop. He also, in 1651, discovered extensive sand shoals north of 

 the Anadyr mouth, upon which large herds of Avalrus were resting. 

 But in this connection it is proper to say that the walrus of Bering 

 Sea is the same animal of which Isaiah Ignatiev learned in 1646, when 

 he led a party of Russian fur hunters east of the mouth of the Kolyma 

 as far as Tchaun Buy. He did not see it, however, and traded with 

 the Tschukchies for the teeth in question. His report of a nation 

 rich in walrus ivory far to the eastward along the shores of the Polar 

 Ocean is what stimulated the remarkable voj^age of Deschnev above 

 referred to, as w^ell as many others who were not so successful,^ viz: 

 Staduchin, Alexiev, Ankudinov, Buldakov, all in 1647-1649. 



Boreal range of the walrus of Bering Sea. — The range of 

 the Bering Sea walrus now appears to be restricted in the Arctic 

 Ocean to an extreme westward at Cape Chelagskoi, on the Siberian 

 Coast, and an extreme eastward between Point Barrow and the 

 region of Point Beechey, on the Alaskan shore. It is, however, sub- 

 stantially confined between Koliiitchin Bay, Siberia, and Point Bar- 

 row, Alaska. As far as its distribution in polar waters is concerned 

 and how far to the north it travels from these coasts of the two con- 

 tinents, I am unable to present any well-authenticated data illustra- 

 tive of the subject. The shores of Wrangell Land were found this 

 year (1881) in possession of walrus herds. 



The Japanese seem to have known of the walrus of Bering Sea, 

 but evidently have not observed it — at least, I think so from the tes- 

 timony of their spirited drawings of this animal. They represent it 

 wdth the body, the neck, and the limbs of a horse, running on camel- 

 like feet, with an equine head, from the upper jaw of which two enor- 

 mous tusks depend. It is made to gallop rather as a land than a sea 

 horse. The hair seals are very much better delineated by both 

 Chinese and Japanese artists, and, further, no suggestion by such 

 means has been made of the fur seal by them. 



The chief demand for walrus ivory first came, and still comes, from 

 those patient, skillful Mongolian hand carvers, who work the teeth 

 up into a variety of exceedingly attractive articles, both useful and 

 fanciful. Wrangell says that the Tschukchies "make long, narrow 

 drinking vessels from the teeth," which require much time to hollow 

 out. They are frequently sold to the Reindeer Tschukchies, who 

 convey them to the Russians. 



The walrus-ivory carving of the Alaskan Mahlemoots, at Oogashik 

 and Nushagak, in ijarticular is remarkably well executed. Clever 

 and even beautiful imitations of our watch chains, guards, table and 

 pocket cutlery, rings, bracelets, and necklace jewelry are made by 

 them. They have earned the just reputation of being "the sculptors 

 of the north." 



Parry's history of the Atlantic vtalrus. — In closing here this 



'Allen erroneously gives the credit (on p. 172, Hist, of N. A. Pinnipeds) of first 

 discovery and report of the v/alrus ivory of Bering Sea to "the Cossack adventurer 

 Staduchin, who found (about 1645 to 1648) its tusks on the Tschukchie Coast 

 near the mouth of the Kolyma River. A century later Deschnev also found large 

 quantities of walrus teeth on the sand bars at the mouth of the Anadyr." Michael 

 Staduchin did not sail from the Kolyma mouth until 1649. He ventured at that 

 time as far east, probably, as Cape Chelagskoi. He was obliged to return then, 

 after getting a load of walrus teeth from the Tschiikchies, but from whom he 

 could get no meat or provision of any kind. He saw no more than his prede- 

 cessor, Ignatiev, did three years prior. In other words, he did not then see the 

 walrus itself. 



