A SLEEPING HERD. 447 



it forward, by striking it witb its great teeth ; this one is 

 served in the same manner by the next, and so on in suc- 

 cession till the whole are landed, tumbling over one 

 another, and forcing the foremost for the sake of quiet to 

 remove farther uj)." 



When the Avalruses arc thus congregated, and for the 

 most part asleep, some ai'e always on the watcli, who, 

 on the approach of danger, arouse those next to them, 

 and the' alarm being tlms gradually communicated, the 

 whole herd is presently awakened. An indescribable 

 tumult then ensues. Each individual will be the first in 

 the water ; but as they all lie huddled together, extrication 

 from the mass is a matter of difficulty. They become angry, 

 bite, and fight with their tusks, so that a terrible noise 

 arises : thev at the same time shriek and roar fearfully. 

 When, however, they have succeeded in getting free, they 

 scramble or roll forward to the edge of the ice, whence 

 they throw themselves headlong into the sea. 



A herd of walruses reposing on the shore must be a 

 strange sight. " I followed the margin of the plateau," 

 says M. Keilhau, "and soon came to an indentation in 

 the rock, at the bottom of which, and at about one hundred 

 feet below me, was a little inlet of the sea, and a narrow 

 strip of land, stretching from the water's edge to the 

 foot of the nearly perpendicular cliff. On this strip 

 I noticed a large heap of grey and reddish-brown sack- 

 shaped masses, tliat bore some resemblance to so many 

 sleeping pigs of an astounding size. I bad not quite 

 determined within myself their identity before I became 

 aware of a large grey body moving about in the inlet 

 in question, immediately beneath the surface of the 

 water. Presently, however, it reared its head, and 

 I • then saw it was a walrus, with its two-feet-long 

 tusks. In the heap just sjiokcn of were a half-score of 

 these animals. One or other of them now lifted up its 



