THE WALRUS. 335 



reposing, one of them remains on guard, and at the first sign of danger 

 wakens his comrades with his terrible roar, and then the whole party 

 either take to flight or prepare for war ; and they are no cowardly foes ! 



Scoresby writes : " The Walrus is a dauntless creature ; he examines 

 an approaching boat with curiosity, not with dread ; an attack on one is 

 resented by all the herd ; they gather round the boat, dash their tusks 

 through its sides, or suspend themselves by them on the gunwales." " I 

 was once," Brown relates, " in a boat where a walrus was harpooned ; it 

 dived at once, but rose again immediately, and in spite of our lances, 

 axes, and muskets, sent its tusks through the sides of our boat, so that we 

 were glad to cut the harpoon-line, and escape to the ice-floe which the 

 walrus had left." Another whale-fisher was pursued by a herd, and 

 when he landed, was regularly besieged. In all cases it is dangerous to 

 meddle with this monster while he is in the water, while its vigilance 

 renders it a difficult task to reach it on land. 



A Walrus is a valuable animal, for its skin, teeth, and oil are in much 

 request, while among the Esquimaux its body furnishes them with almost 

 every article in common use. Among civilized men, the skin of the 

 Walrus is employed for harness and other similar purposes where a thick 

 and tough hide is required. The tooth furnishes very good ivory, of a 

 beautiful texture, and possessing the advantage of retaining the white 

 hue longer than ivory which is made from the elephant-tusk. The tusks 

 are sometimes two feet in length, and seven inches in circumference, 

 weighing ten pounds each, but usually attain only half this size. The oil 

 is delicate, but there is very little to be obtained from each Walrus, the 

 layer of fatty matter being scarcely more than a hand's-breadth in thick- 

 ness. Fish-hooks are made from its tusks, its intestines are twisted into 

 nets, its oil and flesh is eaten, and its bones and skin are also turned to 

 account by the rude but ingenious Esquimaux. 



The food of the Walrus consists chiefly of various kinds of moUusca, 

 and it seems probable that the chief use of its formidable tusks is to 

 scrape these shell-fish from the rocks. The Walrus has other than 

 human foes : the Esquimaux speak of its terrible combats with the 

 Polar Bear, and say that when the latter has seized one, the Walrus 

 throws itself and its enemy together into the sea, and drowns him. 



The number of young which the Walrus produces at a litter is seldom 

 if ever more than one, and when newly born, the little animal is about 

 the size of a yearling pig. Winter is the usual time of year for the 



