THE WALRUS. 445 



Scientifically to describe so well-known an animal as 

 the walrus would be waste of time, the rather as it is 

 so well depicted in the annexed drawing ; but it may be 

 proper to state that its usual length is from twelve to 

 fifteen feet. At times, according to Baron Cuvier and 

 others, it attains not far from twenty ; and the girth of its 

 huge body is nearly as much. Some specimens seen by 

 Captain M'Clure were estimated by him to weigh 35 cwt. 

 Its colour varies greatly. According to Fabricius, the 

 young are black ; they then become brown, and gradually 

 paler, till in old age they are quite white. What with 

 the relatively small head of the creature, its thick muzzle, 

 and its formidable tusks pointing downwards, it has 

 altogether a most strange appearance. 



" When walruses were near the boat," says Professor 

 B. M. Keilhau, of Christiania, who visited Cherry Island 

 and Spitzbergen in 1827 and 1828, and whom I have 

 the greater pleasure in quoting, from his writings being 

 but little known to the British public, " they turned their 

 heads half round towards us, and showed their large 

 brown eyes, which seemed inflamed, owing to the number 

 of large veins intersecting them. In their looks, combined 

 with the way in which their heads and necks were carried, 

 there was a direct likeness to the horse, fully justifying 

 their being named after that animal." 



Others, again, say that prior to the development of 

 the animal's tusks, which is not, I believe until its 

 second year, it, when rearing its head above the surface, 

 and gazing about, bears no slight resemblance to that of a 

 man, and may not improbably have given rise to the 

 fabulous stories of mermen and mermaids. Scoresby, 

 indeed, says, " I have myself seen a sea-horse in such a 

 position, and under such circumstances, that it required 

 very little stretch of imagination to mistake it for a 

 human being so like, indeed, was it, that the surgeon 



