160 ALASKA. 



THE WALEUS OF BEPaN& SEA, (EOSMAEUS AECTICUS.) 



I write " the walrus of Bering Sea," because this animal is 

 quite distinct from the walrus of the North Atlantic and 

 Greenland, differing from it specifically in a very striking man- 

 ner, by its greater size and semi-hairless skin. 



These clumsy beasts are, at the present time, only to be seen 

 on Walrus Island, being so shy and timid that they have de- 

 serted the other islands as they were populated by man. In 

 early days, or when the Eussians first took possession, a great 

 many walruses were found at Northeast Point and along the 

 south shore of Saint Paul's Island, but with the landing of the 

 traders and sea-hunters the walrus abruptly took its departure, 

 and Walrus Island alone is now frequented by it, being isolated 

 and seldom visited during the year by the natives. 



It is of small commercial importance ; the ivory is of poor 

 quality, mostly porous, pithy, and yellow, while the oil is of a 

 low grade, and the hide is quite valueless. But it is the main, 

 support of the Esquimaux far to the north, where it breeds 

 upon the ice, the females never coming down to the Prybiiov 

 Group ; — only males are to be seen on Walrus Island. 



On this little island I have enjoyed a fine opportunity of 

 studying and painting these uncouth animals from life, being 

 able to easily approach to within a slight distance from the- 

 flanks of a herd of over five hundred walrus-bulls, which lay 

 closely packed upon a low series of basaltic tables, elevated but 

 little from the surf-wash. I sat upon a small rocky ledge only 

 a few feet above and from four or five heavy bulls, being, how- 

 ever, on the leeward side. 



I was surprised to observe the raw, naked appearance of the 

 hide, a skin covered with a multitude of pustular-looking warts 

 and pimples, without hair or fur, deeply wrinkled with dark 

 red venous lines, showing out in bold contrast through the 

 thick, yellowish-brown cuticle, which seemed to be scaling off 

 in places, as if with leprosy. They struck my eye at first in a 

 most unpleasant manner, for they looked like bloated, mortify- 

 ing, shapeless masses of flesh ; tlie clusters of swollen, warty 

 pimples, of a yellow parboiled flesh-color, over the shoulders 

 and around the neck suggested unwholesomeness forcibly. 



This walrus is sluggish and clumsy in the water, and is almost 



