MAMMALS. 269 



Oue liuuter told me of au iustauce iu which he aud a conipaiiiou, both in kyaks, had an 

 eucoixuter with oue of these auiuials. They were hnutiug amoug the drift ice oft' Cape Yaucouver 

 oue day iu spring, wheu his companiou saw and killed a youug "Walrus without knowing that the old 

 oue was about. A moment later the parent arose from the water aud catching sight of them uttered 

 a hoarse, bellowing ciy and swam rapidly towards them. Both hunters paddled for their lives to a 

 large piece of ice close by aud landed upon it just in time to escape their pursuer. Here they were 

 kept prisoners nearly the entire day, aud every time they tried to leave, thinking their enemy gone, 

 they were pursued and forced to return to the ice agaiu. 



The peoi)le of Beriug Straits ofteu meet vicious Walruses at this season. In one instance 

 which came to my hearing a Walrus broke a hole iu the top of a man's kyak with its tusks, but 

 the man escaped. Numerous tales are told of their pursuing huuters. 



Along the Arctic coast of Alaska aud Siberia they are numerous in summer, keeping with 

 the pack-ice aud moving offshore with it. In Kotzebue Sound they are unknown or very rare, 

 but are taken in considerable numbers from Point Hope to Point Barrow. In autumn they all 

 leave this region aud pass through Bering Straits, wintering along the southern edge of the pack- 

 ice in Bering Sea. While we were cruising along the edge of the ice-pack in the Arctic, north of 

 the straits, iu July and August, 1881, we frequently saw large numbers of Walruses upon the ice 

 lying iu bunches, which are called "pods"' by the whalers and walrus-hunters. 



The hearing of tliese animals is so defective that a man can creej) up on the leeward of a 

 "pod," and if he kills the animal on guard at the first shot he may then proceed to kill the entire 

 lot, as they do not heed the report of the gun iu the least. A gun carrying a 4o-ca]iber ball is ofteu 

 used, but a 50-caliber is better for this work. A shot striking the nape so as to enter the base of 

 the skull or to shatter some of the cervical vertebrae is almost the only one which is instantaneously 

 fatal, owing to the thickness of the skull in front and ou the sides and the animal's tenacity of life. 

 Their sense of smell is claimed to be very acute, and the huuters are careful to approach them from 

 the leeward side. Wheu basking on the ice they keep near the water and tumble clumsily iu at 

 tlie first alarm. 



As we coasted along the north Siberian shore in July a number of them were seen as we 

 steamed along the edge of the pack. They were all on small ice-cakes, aud as we drew near they 

 would raise their heads aud gaze at us a moment aud then slide backwards off the ice and disai)pear 

 in the most amusing manner. 



We saw mauy females with their young in various parts of the Arctic during July aud August, 

 and the jealous watchfulness of the mothers was noticeable. The young nearly always swam 

 directly in front of its parent, and in diving the latter carried the little oue down by resting her 

 tusks on its shpnkiers and forcing it under the water. An adult male measured by Mr. Elliott ou 

 Walrus Island was nearly 13 feet long with a girth of 11 feet about the sliouklers. 



Wheu the Eussiaus first occupied the Fur Seal Islands the walrus was very numerous there, 

 but the seal-hunters soon drove them from Saiut Paul and Saint George. On Walrus Island they 

 were not troubled, aud Mr. Elliott found a herd of about five hundred bulls in possession there up 

 to 1874; since then they have greatly diminished iu numbers there, and will eventually entirely 

 disappear. Their skin is a mottled yellowish-brown, with very short, rough bristles scattered over 

 it. It is wriukled into folds all about the neck and shoulders. The aniniars posteriors are dispro- 

 portionately small as compared with tlie anterior half of the body. The males exceed the females 

 in size and reach a ton or more in weight. 



The tusks of the female are long and slender and are usually curved inward so that the points 

 nearly touch. The tusks of the males arc shorter and stouter, with the ends several inches apart. 

 The largest pair of tusks I ever saw weighed 10 pounds, and they were far larger than the average. 



The tusks are used in digging clams, also to aid them in climbing upon the ice or to land on a 

 rocky shore, and in their battles are used as effective weapons. From the paunch of a walrus 

 Elliott took over a bushel of clams, many of which were not crushed. 



I have heard the walrus-hunters say that these animals, when on shore, often keep guard by 

 gathering in a body, and then as the leader falls asleep his head drops and he prods the next 

 animal with liis tusks; as the latter falls asleep he repeats the i>erformance, and so there is one of 

 the animals coutinuouslv on the alert. 



