THE WORLD*8 WONDERS. 



running across and against the wind, which prevails from the 

 northward, so that the same instinct which directs his search for 

 prey also serves the important purpose of guiding hj in in the 

 direction of the laud and more solid ice. His favorite food is 

 the seal, which he surprises by crouching down with hisforepaws 

 doubled underneath, and pushing himself noiselessly forward 

 with his hinder legs until within a few yards, when he springs 

 upon his victim, whether in the water or upon the ice. He can 

 swim at the rate of three miles an hour, and can dive to a consid- 

 erable distance. Though he attacks man when hungry, wounded, 

 or provoked, he will not injure him when food more to his liking 

 is at hand. Sir Francis McClintock relates an anecdote of a 

 native of Upernavik who was out one dark winter's day visiting 

 his seal-nets. He found a seal entangled, and while kneeling down 

 over it upon the ice to get it clear, he received a slap on the back 

 from his companion, as he supposed; but a second and heavier 

 blow made him look smartly round. He was horror-stricken to 

 see a peculiarly grim old bear instead of his comrade. Without 

 taking further notice of the man bruin tore the seal out of the 

 net and began his supper. He was not interrupted, nor did the 

 man wait to see the meal finished, fearing, no doubt, that his 

 uninvited and unceremonious guest might keep a corner for him. 

 Extreme hunger will sometimes prompt polar bears to attack 

 a walrus, but the contest thus invited most commonly proves 

 fatal to the bear, for, armed with the strongest and sharpest of 

 weapons, the walrus is a dreadful fighter, while his skin is so thick 

 and tough that even the powerful jaws and claws of a bear can 

 scarcely produce any impression upon it. A walrus will frequently 

 whip or kill several bears in a single combat, using his sharp 

 ivory tusks with fearful effect. Such a battle presents a grand 

 and awful spectacle, never to be forgotten by the beholder. 



ADVENTURES WITH THE WALRUS. 



FEW arctic animals are more valuable to man, or more fre- 

 quently mentioned in polar voyages, than the walrus, which, 

 though allied to the seals, differs greatly from them by the 

 development of the canines of the upper jaw, which form two 



