SECURE A COW WALRUS. 45 



them over the ice with great labour for fifty 

 or sixty yards, until we get into opener water 

 inside the pack. This morning Lord David 

 shot a cow- walrus through the head as she was 

 shuffling off the ice. She immediately sank, 

 but floated up again in a few seconds, when 

 she was harpooned and secured. 



In the afternoon I went after another cow, 

 which, with two half-grown young ones, lay 

 apparently asleep on a small outlying patch of 

 icebergs. As usual, we got almost near enough 

 to harpoon them, when the old one got alert, 

 and immediately aroused the two young ones, 

 and, as they seemed unwilling to move, she 

 rolled them one after the other like barrels 

 into the water, and was in the act of following 

 them herself when my rifle bullet penetrated 

 her brain, and she tumbled head foremost off 

 the iceberg, and instantly sank to appear 

 no more. The two young ones came up again 

 and again, as if looking for their dam, but 

 would not allow us to approach them. 



The people say that the walruses about this 

 part must have been very much hunted, as 

 they are so shy ; but they encourage us by 

 saying that when we get further to the north- 

 east we shall find plenty of more unsophisticated 



