4^76 Bibliographical Notices. 



bays, in closely packed masses, " sometimes to the number of several 

 thousands ; " " and there they remain in a semi-torpid state for weeks 

 together." When met with in this state by the hunters, a rich har- 

 vest of blubber, hide, and ivory is obtained ; but too often brutally 

 wanton and reckless massacres of the valuable beasts seem to have 

 taken place (p. 187). 



The " old bulls are always very light-coloured, from being nearly 

 devoid of hair ; their skins are very rough and rugose, like that of a 

 rhinoceros ; and they are generally quite covered with scars and 

 wounds, inflicted by harpoons, lances, and bullets, which they have 

 escaped from, as well as by the tusks of one another in fights amongst 

 themselves. I have frequently observed them fighting with great 

 ferocity on the ice. They use their tusks against one another very 

 much in the manner that game-cocks use their beaks. From the 

 animal's unwieldy appearance and the position of his tusks, one is apt 

 to fancy that they can only be used in a stroke downwards ; but, on 

 the contrary, they can turn their necks with great facility and quick- 

 ness, and can strike either upwards, downwards, or sideways, with 

 equal dexterity. I have little doubt but that in the amatory season 

 these conflicts are often fatal. Old bulls frequently have one or both 

 their tusks broken, which may arise either from fighting, or from 

 using them to assist in clambering up the ice and rocks. These 

 broken tusks soon get worn and sharpened to a point again by the 

 action of the sand, as the walrus uses his tusks, like the elephant 

 and the boar, for ploughing his food out of the ground, with this 

 diff"erence, that the operations of the sea-elephant, as he ought to be 

 called, instead of the sea-horse, are carried on at the bottom of the 

 sea. I have frequently opened the stomachs of walruses and found 

 their food to consist of quantities of sand-worms, starfish, shrimps, 

 and clams and cockles. I believe they also eat submarine algse or 

 sea-weeds, and Scoresby mentions having found the remains of young 

 seals in their stomachs ; but I imagine the latter case to be an un- 

 usual one" (p. 141). . . . "The calf has no tusks the first year; 

 but the second year, when he has attained the size of a large seal, he 

 has a pair about as large as the canine teeth of a lion ; the third year 

 they are about 6 inches long. Tusks vary very much in size and 

 shape according to the age and sex of the animal. A good pair of 

 bull's tusks may be stated as 24 inches long, and 4 lbs. apiece in 

 weight." A very large pair, of iinusual size, "measured 31 inches 

 in length when taken out of the head, and weighed 8 lbs. each." 

 Cows' tusks are seldom more than 20 inches long, and 3 lbs. each in 

 weight ; they are set closer together than in the bulls, and even over- 

 lap at the points as in the stuffed specimen in the British Museum — 

 which gives a poor notion of a lively walrus according to our author. 

 The tusks in bulls sometimes even diverge ; and the more widely set, 

 especially when diverging from one another in curves, the more 

 savage and dangerous the hunters find the bull to be (p. 144). For 

 other particulars as to the features and habits of the walrus, and how 

 to shoot him, we refer the reader to pages 145, 153, 154, and 211. 

 The state of the walrus-trade, the former extension of the hunting- 



