180 MARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 



capturing the animals by the natives about the eastern coast of Behring Sea, and 

 in the Arctic Ocean, is by shooting them when on shore with a rifle, and pursu- 

 ing them when in the water with spears and hxnces. In approaching the animal in 

 their skin -boats, a paddle formed from a slab of whalebone is employed to gently 

 beat the surface of the sea, which is thought to serve as a kind of decoy to the 

 creature ; and when within reach, the spear, with a line of walrus hide attached, is 

 thrust into the object of pursuit, and subseciuently it is dispatched by being pierced 

 with knives and other sharp instruments. But the natives of the Pribyloff Islands, 

 and also those of the peninsula of Alaska (who have become excellent marksmen), 

 shoot them with heavy muskets. 



Great numbers of Walruses are found about the waters of the Arctic uniting 

 with Behring Straits, and in Behring Sea, and innumerable herds still resort in the 

 summer months to different points on the southern or central coasts of Alaska, 

 particularly at Amak Island and Point MoUcr, on tlie northern shore of the 

 Alaskan peninsula. Within the last ten years many of these animals have been 

 destroyed by the whalers, both in the Arctic and Behring Seas. The mode of 

 capture was by shooting them when upon the ice with Spencer rifles, or, if in the 

 water, by harpooning and lancing them. To the natives of the coasts where the 

 Walrus frecjuents, the animal is of indis^wnsable value. The flesh supplies them 

 with food ; the ivory tusks are made into implements used in the chase, and for 

 other domestic purposes, as well as affording a valuable article of barter ; and the 

 skin furnishes the material for covering their summer liabitations, planking for 

 their baidarras, harness for their dog -teams, and lines for their fishing -gear. But 

 the savage native and the civilized fisherman and sailor are not the only enemies 

 of the Walrus. The polar bear seeks them in its prowdings, and when meeting 

 with a herd, the huge beast selects and seizes one of the smallest individuals with 

 his capacious jaws, and the resisting struggles of the poor victim to free itself are 

 quickly suppressed by repeated blows with bruin's paws, which cause almost instant 

 death. The murderous boast then quickly tears the skin from the body by means 

 of his long, sharp claws, when the remains are devoured. That carnivorous animal 

 of the cetacean order, known as the Orca, or Killer, also Avatches for the young 

 cubs of the Walrus, and if there is floating ice at hand, the mother with her 

 charge clambers upon it to avoid the pursuer ; if this fails, however, the cub will 

 mount the mother's back as the only place of refuge. But the Killer is rarely 

 baffled in obtaining the object it seeks by this mode of the mother's protection, 

 for the pursuing animal dives deeply, and then comes head up under the old 

 Walrus, with such force as to throw the cub from the dam's back into the water, 



