70 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



Christian said it would bring all the herd round 

 about the boat immediately. Unfortunately, how- 

 ever, we had been so long in getting hold of our 

 poor little decoy duck that the others had all gone 

 out of hearing, and they abandoned their young 

 relative to his fate, which quickly overtook him in 

 the shape of a lance thrust from the remorseless 

 Christian. 



I don't think I shall ever forget the faces of the 

 old walrus and her calf as they looked back at the 

 boat ! The countenance of the young one, so ex- 

 pressive of abject terror, and yet of confidence in 

 its mother's power of protecting it, as it swam 

 along under her wing ; and the old cow's face 

 showing such reckless defiance for all that we 

 could do to herself, and yet such terrible anxiety 

 as to the safety of her calf! 



This plan of getting hold of a junger and making 

 him grunt to attract the others is a well-known 

 "dodge 11 among the hunters ; and, although it was 

 not rewarded on this occasion, I have several times 

 seen it meet with the full measure of success due to 

 its humanity and ingenuity. 



I opened the stomach of a seal of aldermanic 

 proportions, who looked as if he had lately been' 

 attending a civic feast, and found in it, not turtle, 

 but about a bushel of beautiful prawns, evidently 

 just swallowed, and so fresh that we might have 

 re-eaten them ourselves but for an unworthy preju- 

 dice. How animal life must swarm in these cold 



