144 ODOBiENUS ROSMAEUS ATLANTIC WALRUS, 



home a young specimen of this interesting animal, we soon found 

 the company of so noisy a shipmate, with the anxiety connected 

 with its weaning, was not an unmixed blessing." Again he 

 says : " . . . we found amusement in attempts to wean 

 the Walrus-cub, who still proved obstreperous when attempts 

 were made to inject preserved milk into his guzzle by means of 

 a special j)iece of apparatus borrowed from the doctor's case. 

 In all other respects he comported himself with the ' strange 

 docilitie ' noted by Master Thomas Welden of the God Speed 

 in 1C08. He became a great pet with the men : a dear, loving- 

 little creature, combining the affection of a spaniel with the x>ro- 

 XJortions of a prize pig. What struck us in watchhig its singu- 

 lar dexterity was that there could be any difference of opinion 

 as to the hiiid-flippers of the Walrus being used in conjunction 

 with the forepaws after the ordinary method of quadrupeds for 

 walking on land or ice. ' Tommy ' also exhibited a marvellous 

 knack in climbing, or rather wriggling, his sui)ple carcase up on 

 to casks and packages in the hold." Later two others werecai)- 

 .tured, and the three were kept in a jDen together. The unlucky 

 fate that finally befell "Tommy" is thus related : "'Tommy',, 

 the first young Walrus picked up at ]l:^ovaya Zemlya, a month 

 ago, to the great grief of every one except ' Sailor ' and the cook, 

 was found dead, with his face immersed in a x)ail of gruel and 

 one of the others lying on top of him clearly suffocated. Thej" 

 were confined in a pen forward well out of the way ; for they 

 lately had become a great nuisance, crawling about the deck, 

 always in sordeone's way, and had taken to roaring like bears 

 down the companion at night. A few nights before his death 

 this little beast had fallen down the hatchway ; this might have 

 had something to do with his untimely end. Xothing was found 

 on examination but a total absence of fat, the rest of the dis- 

 section was reserved for the anatomical rooms of the University 

 of Edinburgh, our late companion and x)laymate being duly 

 salted and packed in an old pork-barrel." * Of the fate of the 

 others I find no record, but they evidently did not live to reach 

 England. " Taking into consideration," says Mr. Lamont, on 

 an early page of his work last cited, "the facility with which a 

 Walrus cub may be captured, it seems strange that they are 

 not more often met with in the zoological gardens of Europe." 

 After alluding to previous attempts to take them to European 

 cities, he says : " Until some special vessel, with cows on board,, 



* Yaclitiug in the Arctic Seas, pp. 47, 48, 62, 218. 



