HABITS AND THE CHASE. 127 



Brown, who says: "When attacked, unlike the other Seals 

 (unless it be the Cystophora [Hooclel Seal]), it [the Wakus] will 

 not retreat but boldly meet its enemies. I was one of a party 

 in a boat which harpooned a solitary Wakus asleep on a piece 

 of ice. It immediately dived, but presently arose, and, not- 

 withstanding all our exertions with lance, axe, and rifle, stove 

 jin the bows of the boat ; indeed we were only too glad to cut 

 the line adrift and save ourselves on the floe which the Walrus 

 had left, until assistance could reach us. Luckily for us the 

 enraged Morse was magnanimous enough not to attack its 

 chop-fallen enemies, but made off grunting indignantly, with a 

 gun-harpoon and a new whale-line dangling from its bleeding 

 flanks.''* 



The foregoing j)ages sufiiciently indicate the methods and im- 

 plements commonly employed in destro;^ing the Walrus for com- 

 mercial or other purposes. To complete the account of the 

 chase it is only necessary to note the special equipment of a 

 Walrus-hunter, and to describe the manner of disposing of the 

 animal when captured, with a brief account of its products and 

 their uses. This will be given from Mr. Lament's work, akeady 

 so often quoted, who, in a chapter devoted to the subject, has 

 furnished the only connected and detailed account kno^vn to me. 

 From this I condense the following : 



A well-appointed Walrus-boat for five men is twenty-one feet 

 long by five feet beam, having her main breadth about one-third 

 from the bow, and strongly built. She is ho2c -shaped at both 

 ends, and should be light, swift, and strong, and easy to man- 

 age, and hence has the keel well depressed in the middle. She 

 is always " carvel-built," being thus much less liable to injury 

 from ice or the tusks of the Walruses than if "clinker-built," 

 and easier to repair when damaged. She is braced with thick 

 and strong stem- and stern-pieces, to resist concussions with the 

 ice. There is a deep notch in the centre of the stem -piece, and 

 three others in a block of hard wood on each side of it, for the 

 lines to run through, in addition to which .there is also some- 

 times an upright post on the bow for making fast the lines, but 

 usually the foremost thwart is used for this purpose. Each man 

 rows with a pair of oars hung in grummets to single stout thole- 

 pins. The steersman rows with his face to the bow, and steers 

 with his pair of oars instead of with a single oar or rudder ; and 

 each man rowing with a pair of oars enables the crew to turn 



*Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud., 1868, p. 429. 



