HUDSON BAY A NATIONAL ASSET 



The harpoon and lance, with attached line and float, should 

 therefore be the only implements used in the hunt for these 

 animals. From a sportsman's point of view the walrus 

 furnishes one of the grandest fields for sport upon this con- 

 tinent. During my many years of travel through the wilds 

 of northern Canada I have had occasion to hunt and kill 

 most of the existing varieties of big game, but none that has 

 afforded more real sport and excitement than the walrus. 

 Upon one occasion, when in company with Dr. R. Bell and 

 a boat's crew of eleven men in all, near the shore of the 

 Digges Islands, we were suddenly confronted by a herd of 

 about fifty walruses, all of them snorting and blowing and 

 looking like so many water demons. 



Whether out of curiosity or upon mischief bent I know 

 not, but with heads and shoulders above the water and their 

 long, curved, ivory tusks gleaming in the sunlight, they 

 charged straight for our position, and so terrified some of 

 our Newfoundland sailors that they were with difficulty pre- 

 vented from jumping overboard into the sea. We were not 

 properly outfitted at the time for walrus hunting, being 

 armed only with five Winchester rifles, but with these we 

 opened a rapid fire and demoralized the band before any of 

 them reached our boat. 



Many of them were killed, and sank in deep water before 

 they could be secured, but to one we managed to make fast, 

 and towed him to the shore — a shelving sandy beach. But 

 when we undertook to haul him out of the water, we realized 

 for the first time the enormity of his bulk and weight. 

 Although eleven able-bodied men, we could not without 

 " purchase " commence to pull the carcase from the water, 

 and even with a parbuckle were only half successful. 



Later, during the spring of 1886, when stationed at Big 

 Island, Hudson Strait, I fitted up my boat in proper shape 

 with harpoons, lines, floats and lances for hunting these 

 creatures, and for a short time pursued the avocation of a 



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