228 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS. — CLASS I. MAMMALIA. 



of caution I)v tlic persistent persecution.? of man, tlicy never assemble on tlie 

 liuid or ice without placing sentinels to give an alarm on the appearance of 

 the least sign of clanger. Altiiougli docile and peaceable in the highest 

 degree, they are the bravest of all the anipliibious tribes. When attacked, 

 they will first seek to escape ; but retreat being cut oil', tiicy will fight with 

 dainitless bravery, and woo to the assailant that is made to feci the lash of 

 their mighty tusks. In illustration of their gallantry, we will introduce a 

 passage from Lord ]Mulgrave, who encountered them near an island lying- 

 north of Spitzbergen. "Two otKecrs engaged in a battle with a walrus, 

 from which they came off with little honor. The animal, being alone, was 

 wounded in the first instance ; but, plunging into the deep, he obtained a 

 reenf )rcemcnt of his fellows, who made a united attack upon the boat, 

 wresting an oar from one of the men, and had nearly upset her, when 

 another boat came to their assistance." Sir Edward I'arry gives them a 

 similar character. " We saw about two hundred, lying piled, as usual, over 

 each other, on the loose drift ice. A boat's crew from both the Fury and 

 the Hecla proceeded to the attack, jjut these gallant amphibia, some with 

 their cubs mounted on their backs, made a most desperate resistance, and one 

 of them tore the planks of a boat in two or three places. Three only were 

 killed." Another intelligent observer says, " AVhen I wounded one, the 

 others speedily surrounded the boat ; and whilst some endeavored to pierce it 

 witii their tusks, others raised themselves out of the water, and did every- 

 thing tiiey could to board it.'' 



Their nuitual kindness and fraternal aftcction arc also strikingly manifest 

 when engaged in battle. Tiiey will protect each other, and when the 

 encounter is over, will carefully bear away such of the slain as are witliin 

 their reach, raising them often tenderly out of the water as if for air. On 

 the strength of their parental attachment. Captain C'ook remarks, "The 

 female will defend the young one to the very last, and at the expense of her 

 own life, whether in the water or on the ice. Nor will the young one quit 

 tiie dam, though she Ijc dead." Again he says, "In the afternoon we 

 hoisted out the boats, and sent them in pursuit of the sea horses that sur- 

 rounded us. Our people were more successful than they had been before, 

 returning with three large ones and a young one. Tlie gentlemen who 

 went with this expedition were witnesses of several remarkable instances of 

 parental affection in those animals. On the approach of the boats towards 

 the ice, they all took their cubs imdcr them, and tried to escape with them 

 into tlie sea. Several, whose young'were killed and wounded, and left Hoat- 

 ing on the surface, rose again and carried them down, sometimes just as our 

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

 bearing them to a iireat distance through the water, which was colored with 



