IN THE AllCTIC REGIONS. 453 



fall victims. The aim is usually made at the throat and 

 breast, and in this manner 1,500 to 1,000 have been 

 killed in a 'cut.' " 



The greatest number of walruses slaughtered is pro- 

 bably on ice-fields, or in the open sea, where they are 

 harpooned by the natives in much the same manner as 

 whales ; hut the Greenlanders are said to entertain so 

 wholesome a dread of this animal as seldom to venture 

 on attacking it unless they are several in company. Their 

 usual manner of proceeding is first to harpoon the creature, 

 and then to allow it to swim about Avith an inflated 

 bladder— attached by a line to the weapon — until it be 

 wearied, and then to dispatch it with their lances. But 

 even under these circumstances the victory is not always 

 easily gained ; for when the walrus is roused, he often 

 fights a hard battle. " In striking the animal," Zorg- 

 drager remarks, " it is needful to make a selection. 

 Accordingly the hunters aim at the eye, which obliges 

 the walrus to turn its head, and then the fatal blow is 

 directed to the throat." 



Professor Keilhau's experiences in the Arctic regions 

 with these animals were somewhat to the like eff'ect. 

 " The day," he says, " was appropriated to hunting 

 walruses, which either lay in heaps on detached pieces 

 of ice, or swam in large droves amongst them. With 

 the usual weapons, harpoons and spears, thirteen in all 

 were killed, partly on the ice and partly in the open 

 water. The first walrus slain was lying asleep on a 

 piece of ice some ells in extent. The boat was rowed 

 silently and cautiously up to the floe, which the har- 

 pooner stepped on to, and plunged his weapon into the 

 body of the animal, and then, with the detached shaft in 

 his hand, he sprang l)ack to the boat. On receiving the 

 wound the walrus rose up and floundered into the sea. 

 The man holding the harpoon line instantly 'payed off' 



