66 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



even when several together, dare not pass, and hence 

 postal communication between North and South 

 Greenland is entirely cut off! 



The Polar bear attacks the walrus calves and kills 

 them with a blow of his paw ; sometimes, however, 

 the older ones catch Bruin in the water and combine 

 against him. The fight is one-sided enough. The 

 walrus are well armed with ivory daggers ; their 

 bodies are cuirassed in tough hide ; and they also 

 have the advantage of numbers. Swimming far 

 better than their enemy, they drag him under water 

 and tear him to pieces with their tusks. The orca 

 or killer a black and white grampus fully described 

 in a previous work 1 is a ravenous creature which 

 includes infant walrus in its bill of fare. Occasionally, 

 however, it is mortally injured by a cow walrus whose 

 young it has butted off her back and swallowed. 

 Against one enemy man alas ! no courage avails ; 

 and since the carcase of every bull is worth about 

 ;i2. i os. od., there seems little chance of the 

 present species surviving much longer. Tusks, oil, 

 and hide are alike exceedingly valuable, and the 

 luckless animals have been pursued with a hearty 

 appreciation the reverse of consolatory to the 

 naturalist. 



The history of the Pacific walrus is dismal reading 

 enough. Captain Cook found it abundant in 

 Bristol Bay, Alaska; in 1821 a Russian named 



1. Renshaw: "More Natural History Essays," pp. 175176. 



