138 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. 



drag its huge body on to the ice. In progressing on shore it 

 aids its clumsy progression by their means. 77 * 



Dr. Kane observes: "Even when not excited, he manages his 

 tusks bravely. They are so strong that he uses them to grapple 

 the rocks with, and climbs steeps of ice and laud which would be 

 inaccessible to him without their aid. He ascends in this way 

 rocky islands that are sixty and a hundred feet above the level 

 the of sea 5 and I have myself seen him in these elevated posi- 

 tions basking with his young in the cool sunshine of August and 

 September/ 7 1 



ENEMIES. In respect to the enemies of the Walruses, man is, 

 of course, their chief foe ; but, after man, all writers rank the Polar 

 Bears as their principal adversaries. In their conflicts with this 

 formidable antagonist, the Walrus is usually the reputed victor. 

 Says Mr. Brown : " The Eskimo used to tell many tales of their 

 battles ; and though I have never been fortunate enough to see 

 any of these scenes, yet I have heard the whalers give most 

 circumstantial accounts of the Walrus drowning the Bear, etc. 

 These accounts may be taken merely for what they are worth ; 

 but still this shows that they are not wholly confined to Eskimo 

 fable, and ought therefore not to be hastily thrown aside. There 

 is no doubt, however, that the Bear and Walrus are (like all 

 the Pinnipedia) but indifferent friends." f 



Captain Hall, however, relates the following story, rife among 

 the Innuits, of a very ingenious way the Polar Bear has of kill- 

 ing the Walrus. The bear is said to take up his position on a 

 cliff , to which Walruses are accustomed to resort in line weather 

 to bask in the sun on the rocks at its base. The Bear, mounted 

 on the cliff, watches his opportunity, and " thrWs down upon 

 the animal's head a large rock, calculating the distance and 

 the curve with astonishing accuracy, and thus crushing the thick, 

 bullet-proof skull. If the Walrus is not instantly killed simply 

 stunned the Bear rushes down to the Walrus, seizes the rock, 

 and hammers away at the head till the skull is broken. A fat 

 feast follows. Unless the Bear is very hungry, it eats only the 

 blubber of the Walrus, Seal and Whale. 7? Captain Hall accom- 

 panies his account with a picture of a Bear in the act of hurling a 

 stone upon the head of a Walrus ! The story, doubtless without 



*Proc. Zool. Soc. Lend., 1868, p. 430. JProc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 430. 

 t Arctic Exploration, vol. i, p. 415. Arctic Researches, etc., p. 581. 



