GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTI6N. 175 



a still smaller portion of the opposite American coast. To the 

 westward the Walrus appears not to have been traced beyond 

 Cape Sehelatskoi (157 30' east longitude), and to have occurred 

 in large herds only as far west as Koljutschin Island (185 east 

 longitude) . These herds are reported as composed almost solely 

 of males, the females rarely passing beyond the mouth of the 

 Kolyma Eiver.* Wrangell, who passed two winters at the 

 mouth of the Kolyma Eiver, asserts confidently that the Wal- 

 rus of Behring's Straits were abundant at Cape Jakan (176 30' 

 east longitude), but only once reached Cape Schelatskoi, while 

 he found them numerous at Koljutschin Island. Thence east- 

 ward they form the chief subsistence of the Tschutschi.t 



On the eastern coast of Asia, Steller (according to von Baer) 

 reports that as early as 1742 none were killed by the Eussians 

 south of Karaginskoi Island in latitude 60. He reports, how- 

 ever, finding one on the southern point of Kamtschatka, but von 

 Baer questions whether in this isolated instance of its supposed 

 occurrence so far south there may not be some mistake, and 

 that the animal was really a large Seal or a Sea-cow (Rhytina)^ 

 Krashinninikow states that in his day they were confined to the 

 northern seas. He says, " On voit peu de chevaux marins dans 

 les environs de Kamtscliafka, ou si Ton en trouve, ce n'est que 

 dans les mers qui sont au nord. On en prend beaucoup plus 

 pres du cap Tchukotskoi, ou ils y sont plus gros & plus nombreux 

 que par- tout ailleurs". Liitke found a dead one as far south 

 as Karaginskoi Ostrow (latitude 58).|| Higher up the coast 

 from Cape Thaddeus northward and westward, they were met 

 with in great numbers by the early Eussian explorers. In the 

 Arctic Sea north of Behring's Straits they have been met with 

 abundantly as far north as ships have penetrated, their north- 

 ward range being only limited by the unbroken ice sheet. 



On the American coast they have been traced eastward only 

 as far as Point Barrow, where they were observed by Beechey 



* See von Middendorff, Sibirisclie Reise, Ed. iv, p. 936, footnote. 



t "Auf der Insel KoliutscMn werden mauchmal eine grosse Menge Wall- 

 rosse erlegt, indem die Eingebornen sie, werin sie aus dem Meere auf das Ufer 

 steigenj plotzlich iiberfallen, ihnen den Riickweg ins Wasser abschneideu 

 mid. mit Peitschen und Stocken welter hinanftreiben, wo sie sie dann mit 

 leichter Millie erlegen. Das Wallross 1st dem sitzenden Tschuktschen, wenn 

 aucli nicht so unmittelbar, doch fast eben so allgemein niitzlich, als dem 

 Nornaden das Rennthier." Nordkilste von Sibirien, vol. ii, 1839, pp. 224, 225. 



tSee von Baer, 1. c.,-p. 183. 



v^Hist. de Kamtsch., etc., as translated by "M. E. . . ." (Eidous), torn. 1, 

 1767, p. 28.3. 



|| Voyage autour du Monde, torn, ii, p. 178. 



