162 ALASKA. 



developed, at least, for, after throwing saiall chips of rock 

 down upon the walrus-bulls near me, causing only a stupid stare 

 and low grunts of astonishment, I rose gently and silently to 

 my feet, and stood boldly up before them, not more than ten 

 feet away, but I was not noticed ; had I, however, given them 

 a little noise, or had 1 been standing hundreds of yards away 

 from them, to the windward, they would have taken the alarm 

 instantly, and tumbled off into the sea like so many hustled 

 wool-sacks, for their sense of smell is keen. 



The ears of the walrus are on the same line at the top of the 

 head with the nostrils and eyes, the latter being midway 

 between. The pavilion is a slight fleshy wrinkle, or fold, not 

 at all raised or developed, and from what I could see of the 

 meatus externns, it was very narrow and small, but they are 

 quick and sensitive in hearing. 



The head of the walrus male, full grown, is, on an average, 

 18 inches long between the nostrils and the post-occipital 

 region, and weighs from sixty to eighty pounds. I can only 

 estimate the gross-weight of a mature, well-conditioned bull at 

 two thousand pounds. The skin alone weighs from two hun- 

 dred and fifty to four hundred pounds. It is two and three 

 inches thick on the shoulders and around the neck, and 

 nowhere less than half au inch deep. 



It feeds exclusively upon shell-fish (Lamellibraiiohiata, or 

 clams, principally) and the bulbous roots of certain marine 

 grasses and plants, which grow in great abundance in the 

 many broad, shallow lagoons and bays of the mainland coast. 

 I have taken from the paunch of a walrus over a bushel of 

 crushed clams, shells and all, which the animal had but re- 

 cently swallowed, since digestion had scarcely commenced. 

 Many of the clams in the stomach were not even broken ; and 

 it is in digging these shellfish that the service rendered by the 

 enormous tushes becomes evident. 



In landing and climbing over the low, rocky shelves at " Mor- 

 serovia," this animal is almost as clumsy and indolent as the 

 sloth ; they crowd up from the water, one after the other, in 

 the most ungainly manner, accompanying their movements 

 with low grunts and bellowings; the first one up from the sea no 

 sooner gets composed upon the rocks for sleep than the second 

 one comes prodding and poking with its blunted tusks, demand- 

 ing room also, and causing the first to change its position to 

 another still farther off from the water; and the second is in 



