110 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. 



The voice of the Wah-us is a loud roaring or "hucking," and 

 can be heard to a great distance, often giving notice of the pres- 

 ence of a herd long before they can be seen. " Like some of the 

 higher order of beings to which he has been compared," says Dr. 

 Kane, he "is fond of his own music, and will lie for hours list- 

 ening to himself. His vocalization is something between the 

 mooing of a cow and the deepest baying of a mastiff: very round 

 and fiill, with its bark or detached notes repeated rather quickly 

 seven to nine times in succession." * Other writers speak of the 

 roaring of a herd as being distinguishable at the distance of 

 several miles. 



The Walrus, unless molested, is represented as inoffensive 

 and harmless, but as exhibiting when attacked great fierceness, 

 and even ^dndictiveness, proving a powerful and often dan- 

 gerous antagonist. Their strong affection for theu" young and 

 their sympathy for each other in times of danger are strong 

 traits in their character, in which qualities they are rarely ex- 

 ceeded by any members of the mammalian class. When one 

 of their number is wounded, the whole herd usually join in an 

 intelligent and concerted defense. With their enormous size 

 and threatening tusks it is little wonder that they inspired the 

 early voyagers with terror, and that their iiowers and ferocity 

 were to some degree overestimated. Their aspect is, in short, 

 as affirmed by recent intelligent observers, little less than ter- 

 rible. That the accounts given by the early navigators of the 

 fierce attacks made upon them by the " Sea Horses," as they 

 commonly termed them, are not to be by any means wholly 

 attributed to the superstitious fears so prevalent respecting 

 sea-monsters in the early times, is evident from the trustworthy 

 accounts given us of these creatures by the intrepid exi)lorers 

 of the Arctic region in our own times, as will be shown by 

 the copious testimony presently to be given. That there is 

 much in his aspect that is truly formidable is evident from Mr. 

 Lament's graphic description, who says : "The upper lip of the 

 Walrus is thickly set with strong, transparent, bristly hairs, 

 about six [?] inches long, and as thick as a crow-quill; and this 

 terrific mustache, together "vvith his long white tusks, and fierce- 

 looking, blood-shot eyes, gives Rosmarus trichecus altogether a 

 most unearthly and demoniacal appearance as he rears his head 

 above the waves. I think it not unlikely that the old fable of 

 the mermaid may have originated by their grim resemblance to 



* Arctic Exploration, vol. i, 1856, i*. 410. 



