244 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



only a big fishing village of some 3000 people. 

 The one main street wanders round the harbour, 

 and consists of shops chiefly devoted to the fishing 

 industry. Here there is a bank or a saw-mill, 

 and there a shark oil factory, which never forgets 

 to remind you of its disagreeable presence. A fur 

 shop displays inferior wares at about twice the 

 price of Bergen or Trondhjem, the one good thing 

 being excellent house slippers of fur and sealskin, 

 sold at three kroners a pair. 



Another Hammerfest industry is conducted by 

 Mr. Robertson, Messrs. Federsen and Nissen, and H. 

 Finckenhagen, who each possess six small motor- 

 driven vessels for seal. Polar bear and walrus 

 hunting. These go to the northern pack opposite 

 the Kola Peninsula about March, and work west- 

 wards along the ice to South Spitzbergen. They 

 are away for three or four months, and kill large 

 numbers of Greenland, Ring, Hooded and Bearded 

 Seals, as well as a certain number of walrus and 

 Polar bears. Their method of hunting has been 

 too frequently described to warrant description 

 here, but an old hunter told me a very interesting 

 fact regarding a habit of the walrus. Unless 

 wounded — when they are apt to be dangerous — 

 these harmless creatures are full of curiosity. 

 When disturbed on the ice, and the harpooner 

 has been unable to make his " cast," the animals 

 dive and come up round the boats. The men then 

 keep perfectly silent, and it is a common habit 

 for the walrus to come and place his tusks over 

 the side of the boat, and remain hooked there gazing 

 solemnly at the crew. The men then remain with- 

 out movement, whilst one nearest the walrus gently 



