EARLESS SEALS. 



131 



lances of their assailants ; the passage to the shore soon got so blocked up with the 

 dead and dying that the unfortunate wretches could not pass over, and were in a 

 manner barricaded by a wall of carcases." The slaughter went on until the men 

 were drenched with blood and thoroughly exhausted, while their lances became so 

 blunt as to be useless. After returning to the ship to refresh themselves and grind 

 their lances, the work of destruction was, however, resumed, and did not cease until 

 upwards of nine hundred animals had been slain. Even then, however, so sluggish 

 and lethargic were the walruses, that several hundreds were still lying on adjacent 

 parts of the island. When the narrator visited the spot six years later the 

 carcases were still lying as they fell, in some instances two or three feet deep, and 

 the stench from them was perceptible for miles out at sea. The worst feature of 

 this great slaughter was, indeed, the circumstance that the perpetrators, owing to 

 the size of their vessels, were only able to carry away a small proportion of their 

 victims. 



The walrus is hunted for the sake of its oil, hide, and tusks. The yield of 

 oil is proportionately less than in the seals ; the amount obtained from the largest 

 specimens seldom exceeding 500 lbs. ; and the quality also is stated to be inferior 

 to seal-oil. The hides are chiefly exported to Russia and Sweden, where the leather 

 is used for harness and the soles of boots and shoes, and also is twisted into tiller- 

 ropes. The value of the hides in America is stated to be from two to four dollars 

 per half skin. In thickness the skin varies from 1 to H inches. More valuable 

 are the tusks, although their ivory is far inferior to that of elephants. The 

 large amount of walrus-ivory annually obtained has been already mentioned ; and 

 it may be added that, in America, while the price per lb. was only 40 or 45 cents. 

 in 1879, it had risen to a dollar or a dollar and a quarter in 1880; while in 1883 

 the price varied from four to four and a half dollars. 



Another Scandinavian name for the walrus is morse, while to the limits the 

 animals is known as the awuk. 



The True, or Earless Seals. 



Family Phocidai. 



With the true seals we come to the third and last family of the Pinniped 

 Carnivores. These animals are at once distinguished from the eared seals 

 and the walruses by the characters of the hind-limbs, which, as shown in the 

 accompanying figure, are permanently directed backwards, and conjointly form a 

 kind of rudder-like organ. Then, again, there is no trace of any external ear; and 

 the neck is shorter than in either of the two preceding families. As additional 

 characters of the limbs, it may be mentioned that the front pair are always smaller 

 than the hinder, and that the first digit or thumb of the former is always longer 

 than the other digits ; while the whole of the digits are furnished with well- 

 developed claws situated at their extremities. The hind-feet, which are incapable 

 of the great expansion characterising those of the eared seals, usually have all 

 the digits armed with claws, and generally want the long flaps of skin at their 

 extremities, which characterise those of the eared seals. The number of front or 



