AGED BULL-WALRUS. 169 



but not without a most energetic resistance on his 

 part. 



On the 8th we came in sight of some streams 

 of drift-ice, and, seeing what appeared to be a seal 

 asleep on one piece, I went off in a boat to kill him. 

 On approaching nearer him, however, we discover- 

 ed him to be a solitary old bull-walrus. He lay 

 sound asleep on a piece of ice which sloped very 

 much from one side to the other. We were obliged 

 to approach him at the lower side, in order to ob- 

 tain the advantage of the wind, and on getting to 

 fifteen yards 1 distance, he heard us, and, lazily awak- 

 ing, raised his head and prepared to absquatulate. 

 He was a moment or so too late, however, for I 

 shot him through the head, and he sunk dead on 

 the ice, and then, in the most graceful and conven- 

 ient manner possible, he rolled like a great hogs- 

 head from the top to the bottom of the inclined 

 plane, and the boat arriving at the foot of the ice- 

 berg at the same moment as he did, we easily har- 

 pooned and secured him. 



This was a case decidedly illustrating the occa- 

 sional advantage which a good rifle has over the 

 harpoon ; for if I had delayed another second in 

 firing, the walrus would have jumped off the high 

 side of the iceberg, which was farthest away from 

 us, and where it would have been impossible to have 

 harpooned him. This walrus was neither very large 

 nor very fat, but he carried a very fine and perfect 

 pair of tusks, and from the worn state of his molar 



