54 



ORDERS OF MAMMALS— SEALS AND SEA-LIONS 



herds float about on the ice-fields, retreating 

 southward as the edge of the ice advances. In 

 the open sea, the sleeping posture of the Walrus 

 is floating bolt upright in the water. He grunts 

 and bellows, and many times vessels have been 

 warned off dangerous, fog-hidden rocks by the 

 Walrus lying upon them. 



On land the Walrus is the most clumsy and 



In 1900, steamers bearing gold-miners to Cape 

 Nome passed through herds of Walrus in Bering 

 Sea, and many of the animals were killed, waste- 

 fully and wantonly, by passengers firing from the 

 decks, with no possibility of securing a single 

 victim. As elsewhere, the instinct of man in the 

 far north is to slay and slay, and preserve no 

 living thing. 



THE PACIFIC WALRUS. 

 An old male of the largest size. Drawn from a mounted specimen in the United States National Museum. 



helpless of all land animals, and is easily ap- 

 proached and killed. In the water, it becomes a 

 danger to be avoided, on account of its proneness 

 to wreck small boats. A full-grown Walrus has 

 never been seen in captivity. Two or three very 

 young specimens have reached Europe, and in 

 September, 1902, Commander Robert E. Peary 

 brought one to New York for the Zoological 

 Park, where it was exhibited until it died. 



The Walrus has been hunted so diligently for 

 its oil that to-day very few remain, and the na- 

 tives who once depended solely upon this animal 

 for food, fuel, lights, boats, dog harness, and 

 leather for all purposes now are on the verge of 

 starvation, and are really kept alive by public 

 bounty. Previous to our purchase of Alaska, 

 about 10,000 Walrus were killed annually by the 

 Eskimo, and utilized. In the long, hard winter 



