

134 HUNTERS "AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



heard of an occasion when a walrus attacked 

 a man in the water ; but of their readiness to 

 attack a boat, and the fury with which they 

 seek to sink it, I have been witness. 



My first encounter with a walrus was off the 

 coast of Greenland in the month of August 

 1905, when ice pressure compelled Commander 

 de Gerlache to shelter the Belgica behind Cape 

 Arends, on the southern extremity of Kolde- 

 wey Island. Whilst awaiting more favourable 

 weather, I took advantage of the delay to land 

 and explore a plateau which the Germans had 

 missed, and which we were the first to describe. 

 After having explored the long terrace formed 

 of pebbles, shingle, fragments of quartz and 

 mica, and strewn blocks of granite, we turned 

 to re-embark. At that moment we saw in the 

 water near the beach two large walruses, who 

 were diving and reappearing from time to time 

 to breathe. Large red-beaked gulls circled 

 in the air above the little bay, in which we 

 occasionally caught a glimpse of the great 

 bodies or black muzzles of the two animals. 

 Jumping into our boat, we returned aboard with 

 all speed, because we were carrying no harpoons, 

 and the men affirmed that the walruses were 

 two old males, who would most surely attack 

 us. In the bows of the largest boat I placed all 



