UNSUCCESSFUL AT FIRST. 53 



and concealed by high intervening icebergs the 

 next. The look-out man, of course, requires to be 

 relieved very frequently. 



Shortly after parting with the yacht, our look- 

 out man reported "walruses on the ice," and we 

 had each several chances the same day; but the 

 walruses were all old bulls, in small troops of two, 

 three, or four, and so extremely shy that we could 

 not get near enough to harpoon them, and we were 

 advised by the people to refrain from firing at them, 

 as they have a theory that it is almost impossible 

 to shoot a walrus dead, and that it also frightens 

 them and renders them wilder than ever. There is 

 no doubt as to its making them wild ; but we soon 

 found out that, when a walrus was wild already, 

 the only chance of bringing him to bag was by fir- 

 ing at his head. At first, however, we failed to do 

 much execution, because, at the advice of the har- 

 pooners, we waited until all chance of harpooning 

 the walruses was at an end ; and then, when they 

 were all scuffling pell-mell into the water, accurate 

 shooting became next to impossible. Our want of 

 success at first was also partly attributable to not 

 understanding the anatomy of the animal, and 

 hence imagining that his brain lay in what appears 

 to be his head, but which is actually only the bony 

 process supporting the tusks ; the brain, in reality, 

 lies far back, and the back part of the head is com- 

 pletely buried in the folds of fat or blubber sur- 

 rounding the neck. 



