LOSS OF A HARPOON. 209 



walrus was staggering in, thrust the harpoon 

 into his posteriors ; the line ran to the end, and 

 then, the boat being fast against the ice, it 

 snapped like a thread, and the walrus was lost. 

 This had been an old line much used, and 

 before leaving the iceberg where we had killed 

 the last ones, I had pointed out a weak place in 

 it to Christian, and requested him to change it 

 or to splice out the defective part; he had, 

 however, contented himself with tying a big 

 ugly knot across the flaw, and at that knot the 

 line gave way; I, therefore, blamed the har- 

 pooner for the loss of this walrus; but pro- 

 bably under the circumstances any line would 

 have given way in like manner. 



We then found three large bulls, two of which 

 were asleep, but the third one, acting as look- 

 out, kicked his friends awake on our approach- 

 ing to forty or fifty yards' distance. I shot the 

 best one on the side of the head with two 

 barrels, but all three got into the water, the 

 wounded one bleeding most profusely. We 

 followed them for six or seven dives, in hopes 

 of securing this one; but, although he was 

 very sick and faint, the others kept close to 

 him, and always gave him timous notice when 

 to dive ; at last I shot the two sound ones 



p 



