112 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC. WALRUS. 



early part of the seventeenth century at Cherie or Bear Island, 

 as already related (antea, pp. 73-78). Mr. Lainont, in his " Sea- 

 sons with Sea-horses," gives a similar account of their recent 

 destruction in the Spitzbergen Seas, where he says, by a similar 

 mode of attack, tw^o ships' crews killed nine hundred in a single 

 day.* 



The habits of the Walruses as met with in their native 

 waters, their strong affection for their young and for each 

 other, inducing the whole herd to join in defense of a wounded 

 comrade, and their power and courage in the water in repelling 

 the attacks of man, I have chosen to detail in the language of 

 actual observers, believing the vivid portrayal of a few scenes 

 from real life, by trustworthy eye-witnesses, to be far preferable 

 to any epitomized account of the subject, however well and 

 carefully elaborated. The personal incidents involved and the 

 circumstances of pursuit are necessarily important accessories 

 to a correct appreciation of the scenes described. 



As stated in several of the earliest accounts of these animals, 

 they are always more or less wary, and at times difficult to ap- 

 proach, usually keeping a sentinel on guard while the herd is 

 asleep. Eespecting their habits at such times, Mr. Eobert Brown 

 observes as follows : " On the floes, lying over soundings and 

 shoals, the Walruses often accumulate in immense numbers, 

 and lie huddled upon the ice. More frequently, in Davis's Strait 

 and Baffin's Bay, they are found floating about on pieces of drift 

 ice, in small family parties of six or seven ; and I have even seen 

 only one lying asleep on the ice. Whether in large or small par- 

 ties, one is always on the watch, as was lon^ago observed by 

 the sagacious Cook : the watch, on the approach of danger, will 

 rouse those next to them ; and the alarm being spread, presently 

 the whole herd will be on the qui vive." t 



Mr. Lamont thus describes a scene in the Spitzbergen waters : 

 "At 3 a. m. this morning [July 13, 1859], we were aroused by 

 the cheering cry of 'Hvalruus paa Ysen' (Walruses on the ice). 

 We both got up immediately, and from the deck a curious and 

 exciting spectacle met our admiring gaze. Four large flat ice- 

 bergs were so densely packed with Walruses that they were 

 sunk awash with the water, and had the appearance of being 

 solid islands of Walrus ! 



" The monsters lay with their heads reclining on one another's 



*Mr. Lament's account will be given later in full. (See p. 114.) 

 t Robert Brown in Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 429. 



