The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-09-21
The Walrus.

The Walrus.
The walrus is a select and aristocrat-
ic beast, inasmuch rs he is the sole rep
sesentativc of the genus TtTchceuS, and
has 10 plcbcian relatives in the shape of
subgcnera and species TO wound his
family pride. He is found throughout
the whole arctic zone, as far as il has been
explored, but he is chiefly hunted in the
neighborhood of Nova Zemba and
Spitzbergen, where the submarine banks
which he delights to rake for the mol
lnsks on which he feeds, lie compare
lively near the surface of the water. lie
is not a graceful nor pleasing beast in
appearance, since he somewhat rcsem-
bles an enormous pig, with coarse
whiskers, pair of huge lusks depend
ing from the upper jaw, fippers instead
of legs, and no tail whatever. 4 full
grown walrus weighs from $500 to 5000
pounds, and his skin, blubbcr. and
tusks constitute his attractions in the
eyes of the hunter.
Mr. James Lamont, a British yachts
man, who has enjoyed great deal of
acute and satisfactory misery in hunting
the walrus and other arctic animals,
holds that the polar bear is the progcni-
tor of the walrus. lie supposcs that,
ages ago, enterprising bears became ad-
dicted TO shcll-tsh hunting in shallow
water. BY constantly raking the mud
with their teeth, and thus catching and
swallowing shell-lsh without wasting
time by picking them up with their
claws, they gradually developed a pair
of upper canine teeth of enormous size.
AS their manner of life obliged the
bears to spend most of their time in
swimming, they wisely laid aside their
legs and substituted flippers, at the same
time abandoning the purely foppish hab-
it of wearing an entirely useless tail.
Thus, in Mr.. Lamont's opinion, the
walrus is merely an improved polar
bear, fitted with the necessary appara-
tus for successfully hunting shell-fish.
That the rest of the bears still cling to
their ursine peculiarities is, of course.
due to their stupid conservatism, and
there is really no excuse to be made for
them.
This ingenious genesis of the warus
Is not, however, to be accepted as a de-
monstrated fact. Mr.. Lamont himself
proposes 1t only i'll the guisc of plaus-
ible hypotheses. Every man has an in
allenable right to make all sorts of hv-
pothesis, and those who do not agree
with MIR. Lamont have no right to call
him hard names, as he is inclined to
think they will. Less eXcusable is the
conduct of that eminent naturalist
whose name will be forever associated
with his discovery of those surprising
beasts, the slithytove, the mome-rath.
and the jabberwock. lie has impliedlv
asserted that the walrus cherishes a
fondness Tor carpenters, in whose COM
panY he is accustomed to walk along
the beach, looking for oysters, and dis
cussing the comparative merits of cab
bages and kings. 1t is sufficient to saw
that not single well authenticated
case OF the kind has ever been reported.
and it is in the highest degree improba-
bic that the walrus would engage in an
argument concerning vegetable like
the cabbage, of the very existence of
which he is in profound ignorance.
Though the walrus occasionally makes
long voyages on cakes of floating ice.
and has even been known to reach by
this means the coast of Scotland. such
journeys are never voluntarily under
taken. As he can not dive to any great
depth, and rs he seeks his food on the
Dottom OF the sea, he is compelled to
remain where the wafer is shallow.
There is reason to suppose that the wal
rus is more abundant in higher ATTITUDES
than he is in the lower parallels where
the hunters now seek him. Nature, in
her manufactures at the north pole, is
constantly turning out vast quantities of
ice and walruses, which are carried bv
the arctic currents to regions where the
vessels of the walrus-hunters can pene-
tratc. II is certain that the walrus is
gradually abandoning his most souther-
ly haunts, and retreating northward be-
fore the attacks OF his enemies. Form
erly he freqnented tie Shetland Islands
and the whole extent of the Norway
coast, but at present he cannot be hunt
ed with much success below the seven
tieth parallel Harper's for October.