LANDING A WALRUS 



of its tremendous rush would be enough to frighten 

 most folks, quite apart from the uncanny agility 

 the huge animal displays. But the Eskimo in his 

 kajak is a match for the walrus ; he is every whit as 

 active, and twice as sharp-witted ; and if the men 

 at the sina see a walrus disporting himself in the 

 water they are after him like a shot ; and though 

 they do not often have the chance that my Killinek 

 guide had, of paddling into the middle of a school of 

 walruses and calmly harpooning the old bull because 

 he had the best tusks, they seldom let the odd 

 ones and twos escape if they get within striking 

 distance. 



Landing a walrus is no joke. I say "landing" 

 because it is the only word to convey the idea of 

 hauling the great carcase out of the water on to the 

 ice, and the ice is every bit as good as land to the 

 Eskimos. What a walrus weighs I do not know, 

 but it stands to reason that a creature fourteen feet 

 long and fourteen feet round the middle is an 

 enormous lump to lift. 



No Eskimo would dream of trying to pack 

 a whole walrus on his sledge ; for one thing it 

 would roll off at the first lurch, and, for another 

 thing, I hardly think that any sledge could stand the 

 strain. Gustaf grinned and shook his head at this 

 idea of mine. " My sledge stand anything," he said ; 

 " got no nails in it, only fine seal-hide thongs ; very 

 strong ; " and though Gustaf may have overrated his 

 sledge, I have seen him drive his twenty dogs up to 

 the Mission house with a load of drinking water, two 

 great puncheons of it, full half a ton in weight, and 

 that should be a fair test of workmanship. But 



another reason for cutting up a walrus at the sina is 



222 



