EARLESS SEALS. 
131 
lances of their assailants; the passage to the shore soon got so blocked up with the 
dead and dying that the unfortunate wretches could not pass over, and were in a 
manner barricaded by a wall of carcases.” The slaughter went on until the men 
were drenched with blood and thoroughly exhausted, while their lances became so 
blunt as to be useless. After returning to the ship to refresh themselves and grind 
their lances, the work of destruction was, however, resumed, and did not cease until 
upwards of nine hundred animals had been slain. Even then, however, so sluggish 
and lethargic were the walruses, that several hundreds were still lying on adjacent 
parts of the island. When the narrator visited the spot six years later the 
carcases were still lying as they fell, in some instances two or three feet deep, and 
the stench from them was perceptible for miles out at sea. The worst feature of 
this great slaughter was, indeed, the circumstance that the perpetrators, owing to 
the size of their vessels, were only able to carry away a small proportion of their 
victims. 
The walrus is hunted for the sake of its oil, hide, and tusks. The yield of 
oil is proportionately less than in the seals ; the amount obtained from the largest 
specimens seldom exceeding 500 lbs.; and the quality also is stated to be inferior 
to seal-oil. The hides are chiefly exported to Russia and Sweden, where the leather 
is used for harness and the soles of boots and shoes, and also is twisted into tiller- 
ropes. The value of the hides in America is stated to be from two to four dollars 
per half skin. In thickness the skin varies from 1 to lb inches. More valuable 
are the tusks, although their ivory is far inferior to that of elephants. The 
large amount of walrus-ivory annually obtained has been already mentioned; and 
it may be added that, in America, while the price per lb. was only 40 or 45 cents, 
in 1879, it had risen to a dollar or a dollar and a quarter in 1880; while in 1883 
the price varied from four to four and a half dollars. 
Another Scandinavian name for the walrus is morse, while to the Inuits the 
animals is known as the awuk. 
The True, or Earless Seals. 
Family PHOC1DAE. 
With the true seals we come to the third and last family of the Pinniped 
Carnivores. These animals are at once distinguished from the eared seals 
and the walruses by the characters of the hind-limbs, which, as shown in the 
accompanying figure, are permanently directed backwards, and conjointly form a 
kind of rudder-like organ. Then, again, there is no trace of any external ear; and 
the neck is shorter than in either of the two preceding families. As additional 
characters of the limbs, it may be mentioned that the front pair are always smaller 
than the hinder, and that the first digit or thumb of the former is always longer 
than the other digits ; while the whole of the digits are furnished with well- 
developed claws situated at their extremities. The hind-feet, which are incapable 
of the great expansion characterising those of the eared seals, usually have all 
the digits armed with claws, and generally want the long flaps of skin at their 
extremities, which characterise those of the eared seals. The number of front or 
