THE SEA-HORSE. 



337 



unhappy walrus, and actually hung on and 

 rode down in this manner fifteen or twenty 

 yards to the sea, where he quickly dismounted 

 when the first wave combed over the flanks 

 of his victim. This surf-bath, undoubtedly, 

 cooled the bear's passion; but it did not 

 destroy his interest, for he retreated, turned, 

 squatted upon his haunches, and regarded 

 the wake of the fleeing morse with great 

 attention. 



But when Bruin selects a young walrus, 

 or a sick or feeble adult, then there is no 



satisfactory ; were it not for the subsistence 

 furnished so largely by the flesh and oil of 



I the morse, it is exceedingly doubtful whether 

 the Esquimaux of North America, from 

 Behring Straits clear around to Labrador, 

 could manage to live. It is not to be 

 inferred that walrus-meat is the sole diet 



i of these simple people, for that is very wide 

 of the truth ; but there are several months 

 of every year when the exigencies of the 

 climate render it absolutely impossible for 



, the hardiest native to go out and procure 



A ROUGH RIDER. 



such failure ; the skull is crushed by quick, 

 repeated blows ; then, when the stunned and 

 quiverings body of his prey lies extended, he 

 fastens his ugly fangs upon the throat, 

 tearing the hide and flesh until an artery is 

 reached, when he settles down and fairly 

 drinks out the life of the unfortunate walrus. 



In looking at this uncouth animal, the 

 most natural question at once arises — What 

 earthly service can such an ungainly, stupid 

 beast render ? What, indeed, is the use of 

 its existence ? But the answer is swift and 

 Vol. XXII.— 27. 



food, and then the value of the cache of 

 walrus-meat is appreciated, when tor weeks 

 and weeks it forms the beginning and the 

 end of every meal. The walrus responds to 

 as many demands of the Innuit as the camel 

 of the Arab, or the cocoa-palm of the South 

 Sea islander. Its flesh feeds him ; its oil 

 illuminates and warms his dark hut ; its sin- 

 ews make his bird-nets ; its tough skin, skill- 

 fully stretched over the light wooden frame, 

 constitutes his famous kayak, and the ser- 

 viceable oomiak, or bidarrah ; its intestines 



