AMONG THE WALRUS HERDS 135 



nursed by their mothers and savagely defended against 

 all comers. An eye-witness says that he once saw a 

 polar bear stalk a young walrus and imprudently spring 

 within reach of the maternal guardian. One drop of her 

 mighty head buried the long tusks in his body and a few 

 more blows ended the combat before his teeth or claws 

 could seriously damage her thick hide. Various evidence 

 seems to show that the adult walrus has no fear of bears 

 and is generally respected by them. 



The skin of old walrus showed numerous scars of 

 wounds received in combat or from the sharp ice, while a 

 multitude of large swellings covered the thickest parts of 

 the hide, from the neck to the loins, possibly caused by 

 some skin disease. We found every fold of the carcass 

 infested with little brown-red ticks, similar in size and 

 shape to the common wood tick. 



Curiosity and gregariousness are striking characteris- 

 tics of the walrus. A boat or any unusual object will 

 draw a herd of astonished monsters around it and some- 

 times cause great danger to hunters. Kleinschmidt had 

 a kayak ripped open by a female walrus two years before, 

 and had to swim for his life to a near-by cake of ice. 



Nansen had several interesting episodes while crossing 

 leads in his kayak. One of these he describes vividly: 



''Suddenly the walrus shot up beside me, threw itself 

 onto the edge of the kayak, took hold farther over the 

 deck with one fore-flipper, and as it tried to upset me 

 aimed a blow at the kayak with its tusks. I held on as 

 tightly as possible, so as not to be upset into the water, 

 and struck at the animal's head with the paddle as hard 

 as I could. It took hold of the kayak once more, and 

 tilted me up, so that the deck was almost under water, 

 then let go, and raised itself right up. I seized my gun, 



