THE YOUNG WALRUS. 



215 



feet. If the cabin-door were open he at once waddled in, laid himself before the stove, and went to 

 sleep ; but if the cabin were empty he would not remain a moment. Nothing made him so angry as 

 to shake a piece of paper in his face, or to run suddenly away after caressing him ; he then followed 

 with open mouth in a great passion. When a Whale had been killed, and the ship's crew busy 

 on deck, " Jamie " was in his glory in the very midst of the men covered with grease and oil. At these 

 times he was a perfect nuisance, hindering the men in their duties by continually poking his head first 

 between one seaman's legs and then another's, and so on, meantime running a chance of being 

 cut down in the " flensing " operations. He evinced no particular attachment to any one individual 

 on board, liking all equally from cabin-boy to captain. But he knew full well when he did anything 

 wrong ; for if a rope's-end were shown him in a threatening manner, " Jamie " instantly would slink off, 



WALRUSES ON THE ICE. 



furtively casting a look over his shoulder to see if he were followed. After being on board four 

 months he fell ill and died. The expression of this creature's countenance during his sickness 

 was indicative of a great desire for sympathy from any one who came near. He took his medicine to 

 the last, and when his remains were committed to the deep, regret was felt by all on board. 



The Walrus, unlike the Sea Lions, is believed to be monogamous. It is known, however, that in 

 the islands of Behring's Strait the female gives birth at nine months to a single young one, usually on 

 the ice-floes. The Seals show a remarkable change in the colour of their coat at different periods 

 of their life ; but the young Walrus resembles its parents, though it has no tusks, these not protruding 

 to any great extent for two years after its birth. The young evidently suckle their mother up to the 

 period just mentioned, and this seems necessary, because in the absence of tusks the former are 

 unable to procure the shell-fish and other nourishment by digging. It is quite possible that the 

 attachment and maternal instinct of the helplessness of her great full-grown baby to forage and pro- 

 tect itself in part lead to that abandonment of self conspicuously shown in the heartrending stories 

 of hunters. Whether the Morse has the marked migratory habits which we shall afterwards show 



