Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1856-12-24
MISCELL A n Y
From Kane's Artic Explorations.
Walrus Hunting.

From Kane's Artic Explorations.
Walrus Hunting.
Morton, one of the crew, had Joined some Es-
ouilnaux to catch walrus:
"The party which Morton attended upon their
walrus hunt had three sledges. One was to be
taken to a cache in the neighborhood; the 9TH
er two dragged at quick run toward the open
water. about ten miles off to the South-west.-
They had but nine dogs to these two sedges, one
man only riding, the others running by turns
AS they neared the new ice, and where the black
wastes of mingled cloud and water betokened
the open sea, they would from time to time re-
move their hoods and listen intently for the ami
mails voice.
"After while the Myouk became convinced
from signs or sounds, or both, for they were in
appreciable by Morton, that the walrus were
waiting for him in q small space of recently O.
pen water that was glazed over with few days
growth of ice and moving gently on, they soon
heard the characteristic below of bull awuk.
The warus, like some of the higher order of be-
ings to which he has been compared, is fond of
his own music, and will lie for hours listening to
himself. His vocazation is something between
the mooing of COW and the deepest baying of
mastfi; very round and full, with its barks or
detached notes repeated rather quickly, seven to
nine times in succession.
''The party now formed in single file, follow
ing in each others steps; and guided by an ad-
mirable knowledge of ice to geography, would
behind hummocks and ridges in serpentine ap-
proach toward group of pond-like discolora-
tions, recently frozen ice-spots, but surrounded
by firmer and older ice.
'sWhen within half mile of these, the line
broke. and each man crawed towards separate
pool: Morton on his hands and knees following
Myouk. In few minutes the walrus were in
sight. They were five in number, rising at in
tervals through the ice in body, and breaking
it I'D with an explosive puff that might have
been heard for miles Two large grim looking
males were conspicuous as the leaders Of the
group.
snow for the marvel OF the craft. When the
walrus is above the water, the hunter is flat and
motionless as he begins to sink, alert and ready
for spring. The animals head is hardly be-
low the water-line before every man is in rapid
run; and again. as if by instinct, before the beast
returns all are motionless behind protecting
knolls of ice. They seem to know beforehand
not only the time he will be absent, but the very
spot at which he will re-appear. In this way
hiding and advancing by turns, Myouk, with
Morton at his heels, has reached plate of thin
ice hardly strong enough to bear them, at the
very brink of the waterproof the walrus are
curveting in.
sMyouk, till now phlegmatic, seems to waken
with excitement. His coil of walrus-hide, a well
trimmed line of many fathoms' length, is lying
st his side. lie fixes one end of it in an iron
barb, and fastens this loosely by a socket upon
a shaft of unicorn's horn; the other end is al.
ready looped, or, as a sailor would say doubled
in bightn 1t is the work of a moment. lie
has grasped the harpoon; the water is in mo-
ton. Putting with respiration, the walrus is
within a couple of fathoms, close before him.
Myouk rises slowly his right arm thrown back,
the left fat at his side The walrus looks about
him, shaking the water from his crest: MyouE
throws up his left arm and the animal, rising
breast-high, fixes one look before he punges. 1t
has cost him all that curiosity can cost the
harpoon is buried under his left fipper.
"Though awuk is down in moment, Myouli
is running at desperate speed from the scene o
his victory, paying off his coil freely but clutch
ing the end by its loop. He seizes as he runs a
small stick of bone, e,rudely pointed with iron,and
by sudden movement drives it into the ice t.
this he secures his line, pressing it down close to
the ice service with his feet.
''Now comes the struggle. The hole is dashed
in mad commotion with the struggles of the
wounded beast; the line is drawn tight at one
moment, the next relaxed the hunter has not
left his station. There is a crack of the ice
and roaring up through it are two walrusses, not
many yards from where he stands. One of them,
the male, is excited, ,and seemingly terrified the
other, the female, collected and vengefu Down
they go again, after one grim survey of the
field and on the instant Myouk has changed his
position, carrying his coil with him, and fixing
it anew.
"He had hardly fixed it before the pair have
again risen, and breaking up an area of ten feet
diameter about the very spot he left. AS they
sank once more he again changes his place and
so the conflict goes on between address and force,
till the victim, half exhausted, receives second
wound, and is played like trout by the anglers
reel
"The instinct of attack which characterizes
the warus is as interesting to the naturalist, as
it is characteristic also of the land animals, the
pachyderms, with which he is classed. When
wounded he rises high ont Of the water, plung-
ing heavily against the ice and strives to raise
himself with his fore-hippers upon its surface
As it breaks upon his weight his countenance
assumes still more vindictive expression, his
bark changes to roar, and the foam pours out
from his jaws till it froths his beard
"Even when not excited, ho manages his tusks
bravely. They are so strong that he uses them
to grapple the rocks with, and climbs sleeps 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 have myself seen him
in these elevated positions, basking with his
young in the cool sunshine of August and Sep
tember.
"He can strike a fearful blow; but prefers