June 25, 189S.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
511 
The Walrus. 
One of the «iost Interesting mammals of the circum- 
polar regions is the wah-us, also called sea horse by the 
old English navigators. The waters of the Bering Sea 
seem to be especially adapted to the requirements of 
these creatures; vast tracts of comparatively shallow 
water extend along the eastern and western shores of 
the sea; the chain of islands forming the southern boun- 
dary, called the Alutian Islands, presents no attraction 
for the walrus; being environed by waters of great 
depth, and the waters in the many passages rush 
through with great strength, consequently they shun 
these waters from the Peninsula of Alaska to the Com- 
mander Islands, a distance of twelve hundred miles or 
more. 
On the northern shores of the Peninsula of Alaska 
are found numerous outlying sandy reefs, which form 
convenient resting places for the walrus herds in sum- 
mer, for it should be understood that the greater part 
of the old males remain in the Bering Sea at all times 
of the year. The females, with their young, and the 
younger males migrate annually to the waters of the 
Arctic Ocean. These shallow waters abound in shell 
fish of various kinds, and especially a large thin-shelled 
clam, and these clams form the greater part of the food 
for the walrus herds, for when a walrus is killed on first 
coming to land the stomach will always be found to 
contain a large proportion of these clams. 
These great shallow plateaux extend from the Peninsu- 
la of Alaska on the eastern shore of the sea as far north as 
St. Lawrence Island, and from this point the shoal 
water extends entirely across Bering Straits and througli 
them into the Arctic Ocean and comprises the greater 
part of the open summer ocean. On the Siberian coast 
the wali-us grounds are found a short distance to the 
south of the large Island of Karagin, off the coast of 
Kamchatka, extending northward until it joins the shal- 
lows of the American coast and becomes one vast feed- 
ing ground for the walrus. The Island of Karagin is 
a famous hauling place in summer for the Western herd, 
for they love to come ashore on some point in fine 
weather and bask in the sunshine, and usually remain 
for several days if the weather is fine. In this they 
are first class weather prophets. I have often seen them 
coming to land during a present storm, but fair weather 
was sure to follow, for such prediction is unfailing. Be- 
side resting, their purpose in coming to land is to kill 
th2 parasites which infest and torment them, and this 
the sunbath does. The parasites are like little crabs 
and a good exposure to the hot sun destroys them; 
although in hauling ashore the walrus have a habit of 
massing in such a compact way that fchej- cannot entirely 
free themselves from the pests. 
The walrus is gregarious in the extreme, and is never 
found alone unless sick or wounded; it then, like most 
other animals, goes away by itself to die alone. 
They come to land in great numbers, gathering near, 
on the approach of fine weather. At first a few of the 
old males go to the top of the hauling ground, and sur- 
vey the scene. When satisfied that the coast is clear, 
these old sages proclaim the fact, and the landing be- 
gins in earnest. At first tliey emerge from the water 
slowly, hut those on the outside begin to stir up those 
ahead with a friendly prod of their tusks, which on any 
other animal would inflict a painful wound, but which 
on these creatures is simply a reminder to move on. 
So they gradually work themselves to the top of the 
beach or as far as they wish to go and lie down in every 
conceivable posture, many overlapping others, until 
every inch of ground is covered. At all times there are 
a sufficient number awake to keep up a deafening roar, 
while the great multitude are sleeping. All throughout 
the herd are posted sentinels, who with raised head and 
watchful ej'e keep guard over their comrades. The din 
is great and the stench from them sickening. 
The movement of the walrus on land is sluggish and 
unwieldly. They move but a short distance at a time be- 
fore resting; to go 10 or 15ft. would be a good effort. 
On arriving at the top of the beach or near high water 
mark those first there will go no further, but turn and 
face the coming herds and yield no more ground; so the 
band begin to haul up on each side, in the same way at 
all times keeping a compact mass. After a while com- 
parative quiet is restored, so many are now asleep, and 
the most of the herd have gotten to land, for they always 
begin to haul up on rising tide and do not seem to care 
to do it when the tide is falling; if there are late arrivals 
they simply get out of the wash of the waves and await 
the following rising tide. I have often seen from five 
to ten thousand congregated on a small sand point. Not- 
withstanding the constant bellowing and wrangling of 
the herd and the terrible stench arising from such a 
mass of animal life, if a boat should pass a half mile to 
the windward of the herd they would all start immediate- 
ly for the water, and in a short time all would be in their 
native element, the sloping beach greatly assisting them" 
in their flight from the land. But a boat could pass to 
the leeward of a herd within a hundred feet and they 
would remain; they might make a little more bellowing 
and show restlessness, but if they do not scent a foe or 
strange smell they seem contented to remain. I think 
the odor most offensive to them is the smell of smoke. 
One whiff of smoke from a passing ship will be a signal 
for all to get into the sea. It seems that they depend on 
the sense* of smell much more than sight to warn them 
of the approach of danger. 
To shoot these fellows on the hauling grounds it is 
usual to wait until low water, then rush between the 
herd high up on the beach, drive the stragglers into the 
sea, leaving a broad band of beach between those high 
up on the shore and the water, then the shooting begins 
with those nearest the water. It is an easy matter to 
watch a chance to shoot the ball into the base of the 
brain and kill the animal instantly. While part of the 
men are shooting the rest are busy with poles about 12ft. 
long with a strong sharp spike in the end to keep the 
herd from escaping to the sea. They are quite sensitive 
about the muzzle and can thus be ield in their position 
on the beach, The men doing the shooting kill off those 
nearest the water, the dead bodies forming a bulwark 
between the living and the sea. When a sufficient num- 
ber have been killed, the living are released, and the 
work of saving the ivory and blubber begun, for there 
is much hard work to be done, and the weather may 
soon change to stormy, and this nxight take all your 
work back into the sea and all would be lost. For this 
reason it is best not to try to get too many at one time. 
In selecting a place to haul out the walrus invariably 
choose a point if possible where they can reach water 
deep enough to swim in near the shore at low water. 
An outlet to the sea between the sand islands, where 
the currents wash a deep channel, makes a most desirable 
resting place, for they feel that they can flee to the sea 
at any time, and it is a fact they are well protected ex- 
cept at low water, and this is the time of their greatest 
danger. 
There is a great amount of labor to be done to cut 
out the ivory from the strong bones of the head, and to 
cut off the blubber. The skin of a bull wa'lrus when 
taken off the animal will average lin. in thickness, and 
is covered with round lumps or scars, the result of many 
battles, in which they sti'ike with their strong ivory 
tusks. 
I once killed on the islands near Herendeen Bay and 
Port Moller over 1,000 walrus, not one of which was 
a female; and at least 900 of them were old battle-scarred 
veterans. Many have the appearance of having attained 
great age; their bodies are so completely covered with 
scars that I doubt if a tea cup could be placed on any 
part and not cover one or more scars. These old males 
are almost entirely destitute of hair, and when in the 
water have a bluish white appearance. They seem to 
avoid the younger and more vigorous of their kind. One 
small herd of these I once saw on Walrus Island, off 
the Pribilof group, near St. Paul, on which I landed. 
It was in the nesting season of the murres, great num-_ 
bers of which covered almost the entire suxface of the 
high part of the island, and it was interesting to see how 
the walrus trusted to the sea birds for intimation of the 
approach of a foe. They were lying under a low bluff 
and could not see any one approach from over the land, 
while they could see my approach from seaward. One 
boat was lying off shore, where the herd was in full view. 
While I landed they slept soundly on. As we crossed 
over the island the murres began to leave their eggs 
and gather near the cliffs; and when we came quite near 
the sea birds flew off in vast numbers. It was now that 
one old walrus sage must have remarked, "We had 
better get out of here." And they went. Notwithstand- 
ing our smart run to the edge of the cliff, but a single 
walrus was hesitating on the edge of the rocks. Two 
cracks from our Sharps rifles rang out and the lifeless 
body hung on the edge of the rock, with the waves swing- 
ing its great white horns among the sea weed. 
From all appearances the walrus must live to a great 
age. Young robust males of perhaps five years have 
just a scar or two; and are all covered with short brown 
hair; their tusks are short and sharp, and in a herd one 
can select animals of various ages until we can almost 
imagine that some of the old fellows might have seen 
Vitus Bering when he plowed the waters of this sea. 
The females are well covered with short brown hair 
and seldom show a scar. Their horns are much more 
slender than those of the males; the skin is much thinner 
and the freedom from scars makes it much more de- 
sirable than the male's to the Eskimo for canoe covers. 
The muzzle is flat across the front, and oval in outline; 
at right angles to the muzzle the tusks protrude about 
i8in. The muzzle is covered with stout stiff whiskers, 
which doubtless serve to brush the clams from the sand 
and mud turned over on the bottom by the two tusks, 
which serve as picks to tear them out of the sand. 
I once had an opportunity of seeing the work done by 
a herd of about fifty walrus at the Moller Islands. At 
near high water about fifty of them came off the beach 
and into the lagoon between the sand islands and the 
mainland. It was a beautiful calm day and I could see 
them stirring up the mud in their work, coming to the 
surface from time to time with intervals of ten or 
twelve minutes, and uttering hoarse cries as they again 
came to the surface. At one time I could see the most 
of their movements as they drew in quite near the shore. 
They stuck their tusks into the sandy bottom and tore 
it up with a quick jerk of their strong neck, then brushed 
over the bottom with their horns (or tusks) and searched 
for the food which had been uncovered. The shell fish 
so found are broken in their strong jaws, the soft parts 
sucked out and the shells rejected. I have often ex- 
amined the ice where a herd of walrus had been repos- 
ing and very few fragments of shell could be seen on 
the surface of the ice. 
Although the tusks are very strong they are sometimes 
broken. I once observed a large male, whose tusks were 
broken off close to his nose; notwithstanding this he 
was in fair condition; he doubtless followed the feeding 
herd and could pick a good share of the clams imcovered 
by his friends. The jaws are short and strong, and when 
the animal is excited it opens and shuts them with great 
rapidity, like a person with the ague, and the strong 
jaws and teeth make the rattle audible for some distance. 
The teeth protrude little above the gum and must 
grow out rapidly, for they " wear away quite fast in 
grinding up the clams. 
I have never known the walrus to come on land in 
winter. This may be accounted for by the fact that the 
Bering Sea in summer is entirely free of ice in the south- 
ern part early in the spring, and the males, which do not 
migrate to the Arctic feeding grounds with the females 
and their young, are fond of coming to land in fine 
weather for rest and sleep. 
The young are born in May on the ice fields off 
shore. The mating of the males and females takes place 
immediately after. The period of gestation is one year, 
like that of the sea lion, fur seal and kindred species. 
The young grow quite rapidly, since in July, three 
months later, their little tusks begin to show a white 
point in the corner of the mouth, and they are fat and 
robust at this time. They doubtless nurse the mother until 
the tusks are long enough to dig with, though they no 
doubt follow the mother to the bottom and learn to pick 
up clams and feed with her. . I have often seen a young 
one, when the mother had been shot on the ice, crawl 
upon the body of its mother and cry like a lamb, paying 
no attention whatever to the men working on the ice, 
until seeming to realize that the dead body could be 
nothing more to it, it would go away, and often adopt 
another mother, or perhaps be adopted. At least at 
this season, when many females were killed, the orphans 
would keep with the young of a living mother. Whether 
they at last succeed in reconciling the mother to her in- 
creased family I know not, but I do know that often two 
and sometimes three pups would be seen following one 
mother. 
During the winter the walrus herds keep ahout the 
.southern edge of the ice floe, and are drifted to and fro 
as the ice is driven by the wind. In May and June the 
strong southerly winds carry the ice fields more and more 
to the north, until late in June they are in the vicinity 
of the large island of St. Lawrence, near what you may 
call the southern entrance to Bering Straits. The south- 
erly winds of this season carry this ice more rapidly in 
conjunction with the currents, and the ice fields, with the 
migrating herds, are soon swept through the Bering 
Straits into the Arctic Ocean. In the middle of July 
a great many bands of them can be seen scattered about 
on the ice as far as they can be seen, and these may 
number from fifty to more than a thousand. In the 
early days of the Arctic whale fishery they congregated 
in vast numbers, before the whalemen turned to their 
capture as a source of profit at a season when the whales 
were scarce. In July many ships would take from 800 
to 1,200 walrus, and these were mostly females, because 
the females yielded more oil and were therefore more 
profitable. 
At first, when the whalemen began their capture, they 
used the ordinary harpoon on a whale line, with five or 
six harpoons fastened to the main line with short Knes,- 
aiid with a bow line, through which the main line tra- 
versed freely. When all was ready the boat was pulled 
up to a floe on which a herd of walrus were sleeping and 
resting, the men always keeping to the leeward, and in 
this way the boat could approach very near. Then with 
a few smart strokes with the oars the boat in a moment 
would be near enough for the harpooner to throw all 
his harpoons into from five to eight walrus, and all 
these were secured to the long line by as many short 
lines as there were anunals. The killing then began. 
Some of the men would haul on the line and pull the 
boat itp to the wounded animals, and a lance thrust in 
a vital part of first one and then another soon killed 
them. But in their struggles they often struck the boats 
with their tusks and stove them badly, and the method 
proved very destructive to the boats. Soon after this 
it was found that the improved rifles of heavy caliber 
would kill them instantly if shot in the brain. The rifle 
was thereupon adopted as the weapon for the hunting 
of walrus, and a mighty destroyer it proved, for in shoot- 
ing large numbers it very often happened that the warm' 
blood flowing on the ice from the slain would so weaken 
the ice that when the shooting was done and the living 
were driven off the ice the balance would change and the 
dead lying on this weakened ice would break oft' 
the floe, in such a case very often all the walrus that 
had been killed were lost, and another band would have 
to be sought for. 
Although the walrus is not given great credit for cun- 
ning, yet he always selects rotten ice, and that which lies~ 
low in the water, with holes here and there where he can 
soon plunge into the water and escape. They are not 
often found on high strong ice. The walrus drifting 
around on the drifting floe has but a short distance to 
move to get into the water, and twenty or twenty-five 
fathoms beneath there is food in abundance. 
I have never observed any great numbers of fema.les 
with their young on the American shores south of Bering 
Straits after July, but in the Gulf of the Holy Cross on 
the Siberian coast I have seen them in thousands in 
the months of August and September feeding in the 
shallow waters of that region. 
When the shooting of walrus began a small boat car- 
rying two men was used, the men being dressed in 
white, and the boat and all its apparel painted white, so 
that there would be little contrast with the surround- 
ing ice. The same order was observed on approaching 
a herd on the ice as those on the land. 
It was estimated that 50,000 were destroyed annually 
when the industry was at its height; it will be seen that 
the pursuit was rapidly exhausting the herds, but the 
depression of the oil market and the growing shyness 
of the animals on the approach of man made the busi- 
ness less and less lucrative, until now they are very 
little disturbed. 
The average amount of oil obtained from a walrus was 
twenty-two gallons, and the amoimt of .ivory from the 
■females was 4lbs. A thousand males killed at Port Mol- 
ler averaged Bibs. each, although 2olbs. have been taken 
from a single male. The ivory is valued at about 60 
cents per pound. The smallness of the valuation piit 
upon it is due to the fact that the center of the tusk is 
not true ivory, but a hard, granulated substance not 
at all like ivory in appearance or texture. AVere the 
whole tusk solid ivory it would be very valuable and 
would command a much greater price in the markets of 
the world. E. P. Herendeen. 
[to be concluded.] 
tt 
Early Days in the West; 
Me. Byeks adds to his interesting recollections (see 
page 508), writing of the site of Council Bluffs: 
The Mormons made a great settlement here, entirely 
self-sustaining and independent of the gentile world. 
We had a Christmas dinner there in 1851, at the house 
of a Methodist missionary, to which it was stated all 
the gentiles (other than Mormons) who lived on_ the 
Missouri slope (water shed) of Iowa were invited. 
The party numbered eight, and five of them were our 
squad of surveyors. Two others were the rnissionary 
and his wife, and the eighth must have been a "stray." 
Meantime, while the faithful had prospered in this 
garden spot for five years, their managers and scouts 
had traversed the Western plains and mountains and 
settled upon the Great Salt Lake basin for the perma- 
nent home of their people, and thither they went in the 
spring of 1852. They went as the wild pigeons (used to) 
so. I was in the hegira, but not of it. 
^ Wm. N. Byers. 
