CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 6. PINNIPEDIA. 337 



one of them tore the planks of a boat in two or three places. Their parental affection is great. 

 Captain Cook states that on the approach of the boats to the ice all the walruses took their cubs 

 under their fins, and endeavored to escape with them into the sea. Several, whose young were 

 killed and wounded, and were left floating on the surface, rose again and carried them down, 

 sometimes just as the people were going to take them into the boat; and they might be traced 

 bearing them to a great distance through the water, which was colored with their blood. They 

 were afterwards observed bringing them up at times above the surface, as if for air, and again 

 diving under it with a dreadful bellowing. One female in particular, whose young had been de- 

 stroyed and taken into the boat, became so enraged that she attacked the cutter, and stuck her 

 tusks through the bottom of it. 



That the walrus is capable of a degree of domestication, in youth at least, appears from suffi- 

 cient testimony. The flesh is highly valued by the inhabitants of the Arctic regions, nor does it 

 seem to have come amiss to northern voyagers. Cook and his crew lived upon it as long as it 

 lasted, and there were few on board who did not prefer it to salt meat. Sir Edward Parry re- 

 marks that the flesh was found tolerably good, affording a variety amid the ordinary sea fare. 

 But the tusks, the skin, and the oil are the parts and products for which the walrus is more par- 

 ticularly hunted. The ivory of the first is highly esteemed, and is used in Europe and America 

 for artificial teeth. The skins make excellent carriage-braces, and are useful about shipping, mak- 

 ing very good wheel-ropes, &c. The oil is more valued than that of the whale, though not more 

 than twenty or thirty gallons are afforded by one animal. 



It is not improbable that some of the stories of Mermen and Mermaids have taken their origin 

 from those who have seen Avalruses or seals with their heads lifted out of the water. The former, 

 before their tusks have grown, in such a situation, bear a strong- resemblance to the human head, 

 especially when observed from a distance. 



Vol. I.— 43 



