THE WALRUS 205 



the animal off the northern coast of America : ' They lie in 

 herds of many hundreds upon the ice, huddling over one 

 another like swine, and roar and bray so very loud that in 

 the night or foggy weather they gave us notice of the 

 vicinity of the ice before we could see it. We never found 

 the whole herd asleep, some being always on the watch. 

 They were seldom in a hurry to get away till after they had 

 been fired at ; they would then tumble over one another 

 into the sea in the utmost confusion. . . . The dam, when 

 in the water, holds the young one between her fore arms/ 



No animal, perhaps, takes its parental responsibilities 

 more seriously than the Walrus, which will undergo much 

 privation for the sake of its young. The great tusks which 

 are so vitally necessary to the existence of the animal, only 

 attain a length of one or two inches by the time the young 

 one is two years old. When a young male, in particular, is 

 nearly as big as his mother, he will still take milk from the 

 patient dam, who will also grub up succulent morsels to 

 satisfy the appetite of her ponderous offspring. 



In one respect at least the Walrus is fortunate it may be 

 considered to have no serious enemy among the animal 

 inhabitants of the chilly regions where it dwells. The 

 Polar Bear, gaunt and ravenous, will not enter joyfully into 

 a conflict with a Walrus, for it knows that the ivory tusks 

 are capable of being put to sterner use than digging in the 

 mud for shellfish, &c. It is difficult, too, for even the bear's 

 terrible claws to make much impression on the thick and 

 leathery hide. 



The Walrus, however, is no match for the Polar Bear in 

 cunning, and often it is roused out of its sun-bath on the 

 edge of the ice by the onslaught of the foe, which has 

 stealthily crept up to take the huge creature by surprise. 

 If the bear can leap on to the shoulders of the Walrus, 

 while it is yet some distance from the water, the result is, 

 more or less, a foregone conclusion no skull could with- 

 stand the terrible blows which the bear deals it. But if the 

 Walrus can slip into the water before it is incapacitated, it 

 has more than a sporting chance of effecting its escape. 

 There are limits to the diving powers of the bear, who 

 speedily comes to the surface, sadly disappointed, and in a 



