8 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



rough old pack and glacier blocks, that they should be sought, 

 although I have seen them lying on heavy old water-worn ice, 

 four and five feet above the water. In this case, however, 

 they had no choice. Later in the year, in August and during 

 the autumn, particularly in open years, they collect in some 

 bay (formerly they were found in herds thousands strong), and 

 lie in a lethargic state on the shore. I suppose that this is their 

 breeding season, as the young are cast in April and May, and 

 even in June. In former years, the walrus hunters, if they had 

 experienced a bad season, would hang around the coasts as 

 long as they dared, visiting the various places which were 

 known to be favourite spots for the walrus to ' go ashore,' and if 

 they found one occupied, a few hours' work would compensate 

 them for the bad luck of the whole season. 



Massing their forces — if, as customary, several sloops were 

 sailing in company — the hunters attacked the walrus with the 

 lance, and, killing those nearest the water first, formed a rampart 

 behind which the rest of the herd were more or less at their 

 mercy, which quality indeed they did not appear to possess ; 

 for, fired by excitement and greed, they would slay and slay, until 

 there were far more of the poor beasts lying dead than they 

 could ever hope to make use of. The remnant of the herd 

 would escape, never to return ; they would seek each year 

 some spot further towards the north, and therefore more diffi- 

 cult of access to their enemies. Although, doubtless, the 

 walrus still go ashore late in the autumn, they probably 

 choose some of the islands in the Hinlopen Straits, or the 

 coasts of North East Land and Franz Joseph Land, where the 

 hunters cannot approach them, or would not dare to if they 

 could, at that season of the year ; and thus it is rare to hear of 

 a herd being found ashore at the present day. This oppor- 

 tunity of having an inaccessible breeding ground will save the 

 walrus from the fate which has overtaken the American bison, 

 of being almost wiped from the face of the earth ; and the 

 species will therefore probably continue to exist in large 

 numbers in the far north, after its scarcity in the more acces- 



