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 
