132 Anecdotal Natural History. 



fusion, and is much sought after on account of the 

 valuable oil which is obtained from the bodies. Some 

 idea of the extraordinary abundance of these animals 

 may be gleaned from the statement, made a short time 

 since by one of the leading daily newspapers, that one 

 vessel alone, in the course of a single voyage, had pro- 

 cured no less than fifty thousand carcases, valued at 

 more than thirty thousand pounds. In the season of 

 1857, it is also said that half a million of seals 

 were captured by the combined efforts of the vessels 

 engaged in the trade. Success so great, however, is 

 the exception, and not the rule, an ordinary season 

 producing barely half the number of carcases. 



Like the common seal, the harp seal is easily 

 domesticated, being often tamed and taught to per- 

 form a variety of tricks. Both animals are remark- 

 ably docile and intelligent in disposition. 



WE now come to the huge and ungainly monster 

 known by the various titles of Walrus, Morse, and 

 Sea Horse, and scientifically as Trichecus Rosmarus. 



This is, perhaps, one of the most extraordinary of 

 all the mammals inhabiting the water, its huge size, 

 its bristle-fringed jaws, and the enormous projecting 

 canine teeth, often nearly two feet in length, causing 

 it to assume a strangely grotesque appearance. 



In consequence of the size of these tusks, the jaw 

 is much enlarged in front, the protuberant muzzle 

 giving to the animal a very ferocious aspect. The 

 nostrils, for the same reason, are placed very high in 

 the head. The lower jaw narrows rapidly towards 

 the centre, in order to pass between the two canine 

 teeth. 



The walrus is found in great quantities upon the 

 borders of the Polar regions, both northern and 

 southern, generally congregating in herds of some six 

 or seven thousand in number. It is an animal of 



