408 
morton’s journey. 
« 
His portrait on a neighboring page is truer to nature 
than any I have seen in the books: the specimens in 
the museums of collectors are imperfect, on account of 
the drying of the skin of the face against the skull. 
The head of the walrus has not the characteristic oval 
of the seal: on the contrary, the frontal bone is so 
covered as to present a steep descent to the eyes and 
a square, blocked-out aspect to the upper face. The 
muzzle is less protruding than the seal’s, and the cheeks 
and lips are completely masked by the heavy quill-like 
ESQUIMAUX SLEDGE. 
bristles. Add to this the tusks as a garniture to the 
lower face; and you have for the walrus a grim, fero¬ 
cious aspect peculiarly his own. I have seen him with 
tusks nearly thirty inches long; his body not less than 
eighteen feet. When of this size he certainly reminds 
you of the elephant more than any other living 
monster. 
The resemblance of the walrus to man has been 
greatly overrated. The notion occurs in our systematic 
treatises, accompanied with the suggestion that this 
animal may have represented the merman and mer- 
