156 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA, 
[(HAP. 
to ten such harpoon lines in every hunting boat. When the 
hunters see a herd of walrus, either on a piece of drift-ice or 
in the water, they endeavour silently and against the wind to 
approach sufficiently near to one of the animals to he able to 
harpoon it. If this is managed, the walrus first dives and then 
endeavours to swim under water all he can. But he is fixed 
with the line to the boat, and must 
draw it along with him. His com¬ 
rades swim towards the boat, curious 
to ascertain the cause of the alarm. 
A new walrus is fixed with another 
harpoon, and so it goes on, one after 
another, until all the harpoons are 
in use. The boat is now drawn for¬ 
ward at a whizzing speed, although 
the rowers hold back with the oars ; 
but there is no actual danger as 
long as all the animals draw in 
the same direction. If one of them 
seeks to take a different course 
from that of his comrades in mis¬ 
fortune, his line must be cut off, 
otherwise the boat capsizes. When 
the walruses get exhausted by their 
exertions and by loss of blood, the 
HUNTING IMPLEMENIS. 
(1) Harpoon, and (2) Lance for Walrus- 
liunting. (3) '• Skottel” for the capture 
ofthe White Whale. 
hunters begin to haul in the lines. 
Or.e-fifteenth of natural size. 
One animal after the other is drawn 
to the stem of the boat, and there 
they commonly first get a- blow on 
the head with the flat of a lance, and when they turn to guard 
against it, a lance is thrust into the heart. Since breechloaders 
have begun to be used by the wah'us-hunters, they often prefer to 
kill the harpooned walruses with a ball instead of “ lancing ” them. 
To shoot an unharpooned walrus, on the other hand, the w^alrus 
