720 THE CARNIVORES 



the island, and soon discovered a herd of walruses, numbering, as they calculated, 

 from three to four thousand, reposing upon it. Four boats' crews, or sixteen men, 

 proceeded to the attack with spears. One great mass of walruses lay in a 

 small sandy bay, with rocks inclosing it on each side, and on a little mossy flat 

 above the bay, but to which the bay formed the only convenient access for such 

 unwieldy animals. A great many hundreds lay on other parts of the island at a 

 little distance. The boats landed a little way off, so as not to frighten them, and 

 the sixteen men, creeping along shore, got between the sea and the bay, full of 

 walruses, before mentioned, and immediately commenced stabbing the animals next 

 them. The walrus, although so active and fierce in the water, is very unwieldy 

 and helpless on shore, and those in front soon succumbed to the lances of their as- 

 sailants; 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 carcasses. ' ' 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 upward of nine hun- 

 dred 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 carcasses 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, in- 

 deed, the circumstance that the perpetrators, owing to the size of their vessels, were 

 only able to carry away a small portion 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 speci- 

 mens seldom exceeding five hundred pounds; and the quality also is stated to be in- 

 ferior 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 one to one and one-half 

 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 pound was 

 only forty or forty-five 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 Inuits the 

 animal is known as the awuk. 



THE TRUE, OR EARLESS SEAI.S 

 Family 



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

 nivores. These animals are at once distinguished from the eared seals and the wal- 



