306 THE WALRUS, OR MORSE. 



and strong lance. The Morse is generally heavier than 

 the ox, and as difficult to pursue as the whale, the skin of 

 which is more easily pierced. For this reason, they al- 

 ways endeavor to wound it in the most tender part, and 

 aim at its eyes : the animal, obliged by this motion to turn 

 its head, exposes its breast to the hunter, who immediately 

 strikes very forcibly in that part, and draws the lance out 

 again as quick as possible, for fear it should seize the lance 

 with its teeth, and wound those that attack it. Formerly, 

 before these animals were so greatly persecuted, they ad* 

 vanced so far on shore, that when it was high water, they 

 were at a great distance from the sea; and at low water, 

 being at a still greater, the hunters easily approached them 

 and killed greater numbers. The hunters, in order to cut 

 off their retreat to the sea, and after they had killed several, 

 made a kind of barrier of their dead bodies, and in this 

 manner often killed three or four hundred in a season. 

 The prodigious quantity of bones spread over the shores, 

 sufficiently proves how numerous these animals were in 

 former times. When they are wounded, they become ex- 

 tremely furious, often biting the lances in pieces with theii 

 teeth, or tea'ring them out of the hands of their enemies; 

 and when at last they are strongly engaged, they put their 

 head betwixt their paws, or fins, and in this manner roll 

 into the sea. When there is a great number together, they 

 are so bold as to attack the boats that pursue them, bite 

 them with their teeth, and exert all their strength to over- 

 turn them." 



Captain Cook saw a herd of them floating on an ice 

 island off the northern coasts of the American continent. 

 " They lie," says he, " in herds of many hundreds, upon 

 the ice, huddling over one another like swine ; and roar or 

 bray so loud, that in the night, or in foggy weather, they 

 gave us notice of the vicinity of the ice before we could 

 see it. We never found the whole herd asleep, some 

 being always on the watch. These, at the approach of 



