176 GRADUAL EXTINCTION OF THE WALllUS. 



ice in hopes of filling his vessel a second time 

 before the autumnal gales set in. 



When the walrus trade was first systemati- 

 cally followed from Tromsoe and Hammerfest, 

 much larger vessels were employed, and it 

 was usual for them to get their first cargo 

 about Bear Island early in the season, and 

 two more cargoes at Spitzbergen in the course 

 of the summer. This systematic and whole- 

 sale slaughter soon exterminated or drove 

 away the walruses from the banks around 

 Bear Island ; but even after that it was a 

 common thing to procure three cargoes in a 

 season at Spitzbergen, and less than two 

 full cargoes was considered very bad luck 

 indeed; now, however, it is a rare thing to 

 get more than one cargo in a season, and 

 many vessels return home after four months' 

 absence only haK full. 



Prom all the information which I have been 

 able to collect on the subject, I calculate that 

 about one thousand walruses and twice that 

 number of bearded seals are annually captured 

 in the seas about Spitzbergen, exclusive of 

 those which sink or may die of their wounds ; 

 so that some idea may be formed of the 

 numbers of these curious and useful amphi- 



