46 CRUISE OF STEAMER COR WO* IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



detects any one approaching from the windward side, and takes to the water. The hunters avoid 

 wearing dark clothes, and even have the skirt' which they use painted some light color, for, 

 although not sharp-sighted, the walrus detects and takes fright at any dark object. In shooting 

 them the best shot always tires first, as it is very necessary that the first three or four should be 

 killed instantly, so that they canuot reach the water. At the first sound of the rifle they all raise 

 their heads, and if one has been wounded and goes into the water the. rest all follow ; but if the 

 shot has been effective, they soon drop their heads and go to sleep again. This is repeated a few 

 times, until they become so accustomed to the firing that they take no notice of it. Then they 

 are approached within a few feet and dispatched as fast as the guns can be loaded and fired. 



Whether these animals are a different species from those described on the Greenland coast, 

 or their ferocity has been overestimated, I am unable to state. It is certain that those frequent- 

 ing this part of the Arctic seas, while they undoubtedly become enraged at times and attack 

 boats, are, as a rule, harmless and even timid, and much prefer getting away from a boat than 

 fighting it. Two cases of attack by them were reported to me. The first wns made by a cow 

 walrus in defense of her young. Coming up alongside one of the hunting skiffs, she struck it 

 with her tusks, knocking the rifle out of the captain's hands and staving a hole in the boat. The 

 other attack, by a singular coincidence, was made upon the same captain by a number of walrus 

 in the water, his skiff being upset and he fiercely attacked by them. They are ferocious appear- 

 ing brutes, with their flat, bristly-looking noses and long tusks, and their bellow has a most 

 savage sound. When in the water they have an unpleasant habit of facing about, raising their 

 heads high out of the water and bellowing. This, added to their great size, makes them truly 

 formidable iu appearance. At times they approach to within a few yards of the boat. An 

 instance of this came under my observation iu 1880. Accompanied by Captain Smith, then 

 acting as ice pilot of the Corwiu, I went out to shoot walrus, cautiously approaching a large 

 number of them on the ice. When quite near, they became alarmed and all slid into the water, 

 but instead of leaving us, as we expected, they faced directly toward us, shaking their heads and 

 bellowing in a savage manner. Whether they really meditated an attack upon us, or were merely 

 drawn there out of curiosity, could not be determined. Prompt obedience to the dictates of 

 "nature's first law" caused us to get out of their sight behind the high ice as quickly as possible 

 and the idea that it might have been from some other cause than a desire to destroy us did 

 not occur until afterwards. The following interesting note on the walrus is taken from the 

 account of McClure's discovery of the Northwest Passage, by Capt. Sherard Osborn, R. N.: 



Some of these creatures were conjectured to weigh as uiucli as thirty-five hundred-weight, and the ice when 

 relieved of their weight rose about two feet. These ferocious-looking creatures were found in great numbers in 

 Beriug Strait; all our voyagers speak of them, and tin- well-known sketch iu Cook's voyage of the conflicts between 

 his men and the walruses has beeu seen by most people. It is only fair to observe, however, that this representation 

 does some injustice to a brute whose character is naturally inoffensive, although when assailed in the water it is not 

 deficient in courage If in company with the female or its young, the devotion evinced by the males exceeds that of 

 most animals. Both male and female have tusks, but these are so situated as to be of little use when the creature is 

 out of the water, unless for aiding them in scaling the steep and rugged sides of ice hummocks. The females are 

 sometimes seen with two cubs at a time, but generally with one. They suckle their young, and from the different 

 sizes and periods at which they have been seen doing so, voyagers are led to believe that for twelve or eighteen 

 mouths the young one is dependent upon the mother for nourishment. They feed upon the submarine plants of the 

 Arctic regions, and as far as may be judged from the teeth they do not appear to eat fish or seal. 



The following note I found written upon the margin of a leaf of the same book : 

 " They eat both fish and seal " — signed E. F. Nye. This information, coming from a man of 

 so many years' experience as the late Captain Nye, of the ill-fated whaler Mount Wollaston, is 

 entitled to consideration. 



After speaking the Hardy we stood to the southward under slow bell and the following 

 morning, July 24, came to anchor near the shore about 25 miles from Icy Cape, in 4 fathoms of 

 water. The bark Sea Breeze, schooner Handy, bark Sappho, and steam whaler Belvidere came 

 to anchor near us during the day. It was then determined to wait a day or two more and, if no 

 improvement was noticed in the condition of the ice, to make a run westward and return later to 

 the eastern shore. I boarded the different whalers to get the "news," which, in the Arctic, refers 



