32 NEW LAND. 



loosely, and floats off on to the surface of the water with the 

 shock of impact. If the shaft is not picked up, it is always the 

 coxswain's fault, and he it is who gets all the blame, no matter how 

 impossible it may be to recover it. 



The harpooner is never a moment unoccupied. One harpoon 

 thrown, he immediately seizes the other shaft, and rams it into a 

 second. This is repeated until all the harpoons have been used, 

 and when the eighth is out, both the shafts should be in the boat. 



It is at this juncture that the fun begins. The walrus are 

 despatched by turns. The harpooner is the presiding genius, and, 

 with the help of his lance, sees to the work of butchery. As soon 

 as an animal is captured, it is hauled astern, the harpooner cuts a 

 loop in the back of its neck and passes a rope's end through it. 

 The walrus is then lashed close in under the boat's side, so that 

 its neck is under the stern, and the harpoon is cut out. The 

 instant the harpoon is freed, the harpooner runs to the bows with 

 it, thrusts it into the shaft, coils the line, and ' gets fast ' another 

 animal. Then astern to despatch number two, and so on, back- 

 wards and forwards, until the whole herd has been captured. 



A herd is sometimes so large that the wounded animals are 

 not able to tow the boat along quickly enough, with its long 

 train of dead. The catching then comes perforce to a standstill, 

 and it is time to make for the edge of the ice, haul up the walrus, 

 and set to work to skin them. 



I must admit that this is not a very exemplary way of treat- 

 ing animals ; but it is the one in use, and which has been proved 

 on the whole to be the most satisfactory. To shoot walrus is 

 even worse ; far more animals are wounded and lost than are 

 captured. 



Walrus- catching is often a perilous enterprise. The procedure 

 is only as peaceable, as above described, when the herd consists 

 entirely of cows, and not always then. As a rule, no males 

 are to be found in company with the females ; they are generally 

 out at sea. But, all the same, it daily happens that the entire 

 herd advances to an attack. This is particularly the case when 

 there are young ones with it. As far as the walrus-catcher is 

 concerned, it is then merely a question of chopping, hitting, and 



