62 R. BROWN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. 



Greenland it is found all the year round, but not south of Rifkol, 

 in lat. 65°. In an inlet called Irsortok it collects in considerable 

 numbers, to the terror of the natives who have to pass that way ; 

 and not unfrequently kayakers who have gone ** express " have 

 to return again, being afraid of the threatening aspect of " Awuk." 

 A voyager has well remarked that " Aivuk " is the lion of the 

 Danish Eskimo ; they always speak of him with the most pro- 

 found respect! It has been found as far north as the Eskimo 

 live or explorers have gone. On the western shores of Davis's 

 Strait, it is not uncommon about Pond's, Scott's, and Home Bays, 

 and is killed in considerable numbers by the natives. It is not 

 now found in such numbers as it once was ; and no reasonable 

 man who sees the slaughter to which it is subject in Spitzbergen 

 and elsewhere can doubt that its days are numbered. It has 

 already become extinct in several places where it was once 

 common. Its utter extinction is a foregone conclusion. Von 

 Baer has studied its distribution in the Arctic sea ; and, so far as 

 they go, his memoir and map may be relied on ; both, however, 

 require considerable modifications.* 



Economic Value aiid Hunting. — The ivory tusks of the Walrus 

 always command a good price in the market ; and the hides are 

 held in high value as an article of commerce ; they are used as 

 material for defending the yards and rigging of ships from 

 chafing. It is also occasionally used for strong bands in various 

 machinery, carriage-making, &c. The flesh tastes something like 

 coarse beef. The whalers rarely or ever use it, having a strong 

 prejudice against it in common with that of Seals and Whales. 

 The Walrus-hunters in Spitzbergen almost exist upon it; and 

 the Eskimo high up in Smith's Sound look upon it as their staple 

 article of food. The American explorers who wintered there 

 soon acquired a liking for it. Accordingly the '* Morsk " has 

 been hunted in northern regions from a very early period. The 

 Icelandic Sagas (such as the Speculum regale, &c.) speak of it as 

 Rostungur ; and there is said to be a letter in the library of the 

 Vatican proving that the old Icelandic colonists in Greenland 

 paid their " Peter's Pence " in the shape of Walrus-tusks and 

 hides. However, in 890, as far back as the days of King 

 Alfred of England, Qithere, " the old sea-captain who dwelt 

 " in Helegoland," gave a most circumstantial account to that 

 monarch (who wrote it down in his edition of the Hormista of 

 Paulus Orosiusf ) of slaying, he and his six -companions, no less 

 than "three score Horse-whales" in three days.J At the present 

 period it is principally captured in Spitzbergen by Russian and 



* Memoires de 1' Academic de St.-Petersbourg, t. iv., p. 97, t. 4 (1836). 



f See Daines Barrington's Translation (1775), p. 9 ; and other editions. 



X This statement need not be doubted -when we read how, in 1852, 16 men 

 witb lances killed in a few hours 900 out of a herd of 3,000 or 4,000 lying on 

 an island off Spitzbergen : Lamont, Quart. Joum. Geol. Soc, xvi., p. 483. 

 Martens' " Spitzbergen," p. 182, tells us that in 1608 Walruses were huddled 

 together in such numbers on Cherry Island, south of Spitzbergen, that a 

 ship's crew killed above 900 in seven hours. 



