HABITS OF WALRUS. 
415 
a roar, and the foam pours out from his jaws till it 
froths his beard. 
Even when not excited, he manages his tusks 
bravely. They are so strong that he uses them to 
grapple the rocks with, and climbs steeps of ice and 
land which would be inaccessible to him without their 
aid. He ascends in this way rocky islands that are 
sixty and a hundred feet above the level of the sea; 
and I have myself seen him in these elevated positions 
basking with his young in the cool sunshine of August 
and September. 
He can strike a fearful blow; but prefers charging 
with his tusks in a soldierly manner. I do not doubt 
the old stories of the Spitzbergen fisheries and Cherie 
Island, where the walrus put to flight the crowds of 
European boats. Awuk is the lion of the Danish 
Esquimaux, and they always speak of him with the 
highest respect. 
I have heard of oomiaks being detained for days at 
a time at the crossings of straits and passages which he 
infested. Governor Flaischer told me that, in 1830, a 
brown walrus, which, according to the Esquimaux, is 
the fiercest, after being lanced and maimed near Uper- 
navik, routed his numerous assailants, and drove them 
in fear to seek for help from the settlement. His 
movements were so violent as to jerk out the harpoons 
that w r ere stuck into him. The governor slew him 
with great difficulty after several rifle-shots and lance- 
wounds from his whaleboat. 
On another occasion, a young and adventurous Inuit 
