VAST HEEDS ASHORE, 185 



who had been badly wounded by some one 

 else), we did not see a walrus either on ice or 

 in the water. 



Several other small vessels which were in 

 sight bore up for the south in the evening, as 

 if they had made the same discovery, and our 

 people say that all the walruses " must have 

 gone on land now," and that the best chance 

 is to look for them amongst the Thousand 

 Islands; but it seems to us that amongst so 

 many islands, and so many hundred miles of 

 rugged shores, we stand but a bad chance of 

 finding them with our slow-sailing vessel. 



About this time of year the walruses usually 

 congregate together in vast herds — sometimes 

 to the number of several thousands — and all 

 lie down in a mass in some secluded bay, or 

 some rocky island, and there they remain, in a 

 semi-torpid sort of state, for weeks together, 

 without moving or feeding. They do not 

 usually do this until near the end of August, 

 by which time most of the vessels have de- 

 parted full, and of course it is a very great 

 chance whether any of those remaining will 

 find these trysting-places in the few days which 

 remain before the season breaks up ; but such 

 chances are what every Spitzbergen walrus 



