THE SAVAGE WORLD. 125 
guished by its two immense canine teetb. It is gregarious and always keeps 
its sentinels posted. It is harpooned like the whale, and though yielding but 
little oil, is yet valuable for the ivory of its tusks. 
The walrus is at times brave to desperation, especially when attempting to 
protect its young. It first endeavors to put its cubs in a place of safety, but 
failing in this, will clasp it to its breast and then dash themselves again 
and again at their persecutors. On one occasion Captain Cook, the noted navi¬ 
gator, had met with unusual success in hunting the walrus. As the boats 
approached the herd, the old ones seized their cubs with Their fins and endea¬ 
vored to escape into the sea. Several which had escaped returned for their 
THE WALRUS. 
young, and finding these dead, returned to the surface and bore off the lifeless 
bodies. One walrus , whose dead cub had been hauled into one of the boats, 
repeatedly attacked the boat, striking her teeth clear through the bottom of it. 
Doubtless had there been a poet among the walrus he would have anticipated 
the stirring lines of Elizabeth Barrett Browning; certain it is that the grief 
of the afflicted walrus was quite as deep and fully as sincere as that of any 
human parent. It may be as well to interject the remark that the cubs manifest 
like devotion for their parents, and often after having been assured of safety will 
return and join in their defence. 
