Show arrom from kanes kancs arctic explorations WALRUS HUNTING I 1 morton one of the crew had joined some soma Es quinaux to catch catali walrus the party which morton attended upon their walrus hullt built had three sled sied sledges 11 es one was to be taken to a cache in the neighborhood the other two dragged at a quick run towards the open water about ten tell miles ot off to tile llie sou son southwest south th west had burnine but nine nino dogs to these two sledges one man only riding tila ilia others running by turns As they neared the ice and where the black wastes of mingled cloud and water betokened the open sea they would from time to time remove their hoods and listen intently forthe for the animals voice after a while become convinced froia from si sins signs ns or sounds or both for they were inappreciable by morton morion that the walrus were waiting for him in a small space of recently open water that was glazed over with a few days growth of ice and moving gently on they soon heard the characteristic bellow of a bull abuk the walrus like some of the higher order of beings to which he lie has been compared is fond of his own music and will lie for some hours listening to himself his vocalization is something between the mooing of a cow and the deepest bay lugs ings S of a mastiff very round and full with its barks or detached notes repeated rather quickly seven to nine limes in succession the party now formed ill in single file follo following wing in each others steps and guided by an admirable knowledge of ice topography wound lid iid behind hummocks and ridges in a serpentine approach toward a group of pond like discolo discoloration discolorations rations recently frozen ice spots but surrounded by firmer and older ice when within hain half a mile of these the lines iines broke an deach man crawled toward a separate pool morton Mor on his hands and knees following ayouk in a few minutes es the walrus were in sight they were five in number rising at nt intervals through the ice in ill a body and nd breaking it with an explosive puff that might have llave been heard beard for miles two large grim looking males were conspicuous as the leaders of the group now for the marvel 0 of the craft when the walrus is above water the hunter is flat and motionless ti as lie he begins to sink alert and ready for a spring the animals head is hardly below th the 0 waterline water line before every man is in ill a rapid dunand galli again lre are as if by instinct before the beast re arb are motionless behind protecting knolls of ice they seem to know beforehand not only tile the time lie he will be absent but kila ilia very spot at which he be will reappear re app appear ar in thi this s way hiding biding and advancing by turns ayouk with morton at his heels has reached a plate of thin ice hardly strong enough to bear them at the very brink of the the walrus a are re cur vetting in ayouk till now phlegmatic seems to waken with excitement his colhof coil of walrus hide a well trimmed line of many fathoms length is lying at his side ile he fixes one end of it in an iron barb and fastens this loosely by a socket upon a shaft of unicorns horn the other end is already looped or as a sailor would say doubled in a bight it is the ilia work of a moment he has grasped the harpoon the water is in motion puffing with pent up respiration the walrus is within a couple of fathoms close before him ayouk rises slowly r his right arm thrown back the th eleft left flat at his eide side the walrus looks about him shaking I 1 the water from his crest ayouk throws up his left arm arin and the animal raising breast high fixes one look before he plunges it costs him all that curiosity call can cost the harpoon is buried under the left fie fil flipper per though abuk abuk is is down in a moment ayouk is running running at desperate speed from the scene of his victory paying off his coil freely but clutching the end of the loop ile he seizes as lie he runs a small stick of bone rudely pointed 1 anted with iron and a movement drives it t into the ice to this he secures his line pressing it down close to the ice surface with his feet now comes the struggle the hole hoie is dashed in maa mad maa commotion with the struggles egles igles of the wounded beast tile the line is dawn tight atone at one moment tile the next relaxed the hunter has not left his station there is a crack of the ice and rearing up through it are two walruses I 1 not many yards from where ho he stands one of them the male is ex excited cited and seemingly terrified the other the female collected and vengeful down they go again after one grim survey of the field and on the instant ayouk alyous has changed his position carrying his coil with him and fixing it anew he has hardly fixed it before the pair have again risen breaking up an area of ten feet jeet diameter about the very spot he left As they sink once more lie he again changes his place and so the conflict goes oil on between address and force till the victim half exhausted receives a second wound and is played like a trout by the anglers reel the instinct of attack which characterizes the walrus is interesting to the naturalists natura lists as it is characteristic also of land ani mals mais the pachyderms with which he lie is classed when wounded lie he rises high out of the water plunging heavily against the tha ice and strives to raise himself with his fore flippers upon its surface As it breaks under its eight weight his countenance assume a still more vindictive express sion his bark changes to a roar and the foam pours out from his jaws till I 1 it froths frothy his beard I 1 even when not excited he manages his tusks bravely they are so strong that lie he uses them to tb grapple the rocks with and climbs steeps of ice and land which would be inaccessible to him without their aid ile he ascends in this way rocky islands that are sixty and a hundred feet above the level of the sea ea and I 1 have myself seen him in these elevated positions basking with his young in the cool sunshine of august and sep ile he can strike a fearful blow but prefers charging with his tusks in a soldierly manner I 1 do not doubt the tiie old stories of the Spitz spitzbergen bergen fisheries and cherne cherie island where the walrus put to flight the crowds of european boats abuk is the lion of the danish they always speak of him with respect I 1 havo have heard of being detained for days at a time at the crossings of or straits and passages which whish lie he infested governor fleischer Fla ischer told me that in 1830 a brown walrus which according to the tho Esqui lmax max is the fiercest after being lanced and maimed near routed his nume numerous rotis rolis assailant sand drove them in fear to seek beek for help from the iha settlement his movements were so violent as to jerk out the harpoons that were struck into him the governor s slew law him with great difficulty after several rifle shots and lance wounds from his whaleboat whale boat 11 |