180 HIS PROBABLE REMINISCENCES. 



venient manner possible, he rolled like a great 

 hogshead from the top to the bottom of the 

 inclined plane, and the boat arriving at the 

 foot of the iceberg at the same moment as 

 he did, we easily harpooned and secured him. 



This was a case decidedly illustrating the 

 occasional advantage which a good rifle has 

 over the harpoon ; for if I had delayed 

 another second in firing, the walrus would 

 have jumped off the high side of the iceberg, 

 which was farthest away from us, and where it 

 would have been impossible to have harpooned 

 him. This walrus was neither very large nor 

 very fat, but he carried a very fine and perfect 

 pair of tusks, and from the worn state of his 

 molar teeth, and his rugose, scarred, and al- 

 most hairless hide, he had evidently attained 

 to extreme old age ; and I think it not improb- 

 able that he may have been a lazy and peaceful 

 denizen of the Spitzbergen ice-floes at the 

 time when the immortal Nelson visited these 

 shores as a midshipman in Lord Mulgrave's 

 expedition in 1773. 



We saw nothing else all day but seals in the 

 water. We sent a boat ashore in the afternoon 

 to collect fire-wood, and one of our sailors picked 

 up a good pair of walrus tusks on the beach. 



