34 NEW LAND. 



after it. Happy the one which does not capsize when it again 

 splashes into the water. 



Matters are worst of all when the walrus dive straight down 

 under the ice ; there is then only one thing to be done jump on to 

 the floe before you strike it, fend the boat off, and hold on to it all 

 you know, for they must soon come up again to breathe. As a 

 last resource, the line may be cut, that is to say, if you have time 

 to do it ; but as a rule there is little enough time when you are 

 moving at such terrific speed. If the floe be small and the line 

 long, so that the animals can come up again on the other side of it, 

 the only thing to be done is to despatch them in the quickest 

 possible manner that the circumstances will allow. 



The natural conditions in Eice Strait and north of it prevented 

 us from capturing the walrus in this manner, which, after all, is the 

 best and most rational, for no sooner had we got hold of one than it 

 made for the ice as fast as it could, with the boat after it. Our 

 harpooners, Peder and Fosheim, therefore, generally preferred to 

 shoot the animals. 



