Kenyon (1958b) at Little Diomede, on the other hand, finds that 
a sizable proportion of the ivory taken is sold raw -- much of it traded 
over the bars in Nome for liquor-by-the-drink. The better carvers usually 
retain enough ivory to meet the anticipated demand for carving during the 
ensuing year; however, in 1954, 200 pounds of ivory were shipped in to 
Little Diomede for carving, a necessity largely brought about by improvi- 
dent sale of raw ivory. The usual price of the raw ivory is $2 a pound; 
when carved it is worth several times as much. 
A second potential source of revenue is from sale of hides. 
Some female hides are sold locally, after being split (figures 3, 4, and 
5), for boat coverings. Prices vary from $15 to $50 per hide; relatively 
few hides are sold. Hides of large bulls are in demand by the jewelry 
industry for use in buffing silver, and are worth approximately $150 a 
hide, £.0.b. Seattle. Two hides were sold at Gambell in 1957, but none 
before or since (Fay, 1958). At Gambell, where the preponderance of the 
harvest is adult females and juveniles of both sexes, most hides are cut 
into sections with the underlying blubber and some of the meat attached. 
"These slabs, 4-8 inches thick and weighing 75-150 pounds (average about 
110) are known as ‘'mungona.' (Figures 6 and 7). Each is folded over and 
laced into a so-called 'meatball' with the skin on the outside, and it is 
stored in an underground pit. These meatballs are used principally for 
dogfood throughout the summer, fall, and winter. About 8 are obtainable 
from an average adult female walrus and 10 from a male." (Fay, 1958). 
At other villages, some hides are used for food, but such use is 
inconsequential. 
The third potential source of revenue is through furnishing 
facilities and guide service for trophy hunters, who are allowed one bull 
walrus a year on a special license. One trophy hunter spent approximately 
$500 at Little Diomede in the spring of 1958, and another somewhat less at 
Savoonga in the spring of 1957. There has been practically no other 
trophy hunting since it was legalized by the amended "Walrus Act" in 1956; 
only four licenses were sold in 1957 and six in 1958. 
To sum up, walruses are necessary for food at several villages, 
but the number required to provide food is somewhat less than the number 
currently taken. The potential value of an adult male walrus, fully 
utilized exclusive of food, is on the order of $300; of a female, $150. 
Present use yields a return to the village on the order of $125 at 
Gambell and $50 at Little Diomede. 
Harvest 
Fay (1958) has estimated the annual kill of Pacific walruses 
for the period 1950 through 1958. His figures include the actual harvest 
plus the number sunk and one-half the number wounded. The details of this 
estimate by villages are shown in table 2. The basis he used for extra- 
polating the loss figures is the information he has gathered on this 
subject at St. Lawrence Island. To the Alaskan total kill of 2,200 
13 
