136 Notices respecting New Books, 



delighted with music. The captain's son, who was a good per- 

 former on the violin, never failed to have a numerous auditory, 

 when we were in the seas frequented by those animals ; and I 

 have seen them follow the ship for miles when any person was 

 playing on deck. This fact was observed by the ancient poets *j 

 and is thus alluded to by Mr. Scott, in his recent poem : 



* Rude Heiskar's seals, through surges dark. 

 Will long pursue the minstrers bark.' 



'' These animals, in swimming, constantly keep the head, and 

 often the whole body, as far as the shoulder, above the surface of 

 the water. The first I saw was at a considerable distance, and 

 might easily have been mistaken for a man, though it was much 

 liker a dog. 



** Buffon has already remarked, that this animal had given a 

 foundation to the poetic fiction of the Nereids in anticjuity ; and 

 perhaps we may add, to the no less fictitious mermaids of modern 

 times. 



** The Arctic walrus, or Trichechus Rosmarus of Linnaeus, the 

 other great variety of the Phocae, frequents the bays and shores 

 of Spitzbergen in vast numbers, though they are not now found in 

 such quantities as when the Europeans first navigated these seas. 

 The walrus is considerably larger than the seal, being sometimes 

 found eighteen feet long, and twelve round, where thickest t» 

 Their characteristic diiference, however, consists in the walrus 

 having two very large tusks, or horns, like the elephants, pro- 

 jecting from his upper jaw. These are sometimes found of an 

 extraordinary size, from two to three feet in length, and weighing 

 twenty pounds. The tusks of the Spitzbergen walrus seldom at- 

 tain this size, because there the animal is generally killed before 

 attaining its full growth. It is only on the northern coast of Asi- 

 atic Russia, or where they are not molested by hunters, that such 

 tusks are found. 



*' With the exception of the tusks, the form of the walrus does 

 not differ materially from that of the seal. Head round, with a 

 short nose; mouth small, with strong bristles; small red ejes; 

 short neck; colour variable; rest of the body similar to the seal; 

 but its toes, especially in the hind feet, are much stronger. 



*' The walrus is monogamous, but in other respects its habits 

 are nearly the same with those of the seal. It brings forth its 

 young in the same manner, ])reys on the same kinds of fish, and, 

 like the seal, ascends the ice, (more rarciv the land,) to bask in 

 the sun. 



*' The walrus is a very valuable animal, yielding frequently half 

 a ton of oil, equally valuable with that of the whale. The tusks 



* Apol Rhod. lib. 1 . Vol. Flac. lib. 5. lin. 440. Gaudebant carmine Phocce, 

 t The largest we caught, was only thirteen feet long and seven round. 



are 



