The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-10-07

HtN III IlIlII steps, for Sea- Witch. as
~ g ,1N Kipliiig calls the latter, is
- IL ugly and unc0uth enough
to be one OF the very same
family as the dugong, although in
7 truth he is nothing OF the sort. But at
the outset 1 feel impelled to enter
stern protest against the gross libel
upon that beautiful animal, the horse.
perpetrated by calling the wairus q
sea horse and the hippopotamus river
horse. What in the name of common
sense have either of these most ungain-
ly bruteS in common with one Of the
most elegant and beautiful of all
n known animals? Not that I would
\ rashly call any of the Creators Won
derful designs ugly do but speak
after the manner of men. But there
does appear to me to be such an utter
lack Of similarity in the comforting of
titles such as the foregoing. Nor is the
manatee any more like a cow, still
there is not quite the same jar to our
sensbilities in the comparison, since
the COW is not what one would truth
s, fully describe as graceful, either in
tsutline or movement.
Perhaps of all land walking animals,
none. not even the Nfyrmecophag
can compete with the walrus for clum-
siness. He has gigantic body, in the
fullest grown adult about a ton in
weight, and about as unsymmetrlcal
rs leathern bag Of oil or the body
<f a hippopotamus. 1t is covered with
a tough, gnared hide, scantily clothed
with coarse, brown hair, very patchy;
in fact, not at all unlike one of those
old hair trunks we used to see Occa-
sionaIly. The forelegs are very short,
and the hand-like feet are planted
fiat at almost right angles to the body,
while the hind feet have practically no
Legs to them, being apparently just an
ornamental appendage to the body of
q lieu Of a tail. Consequently, he who
can watch the progress of walrus
over land or ice and not laugh must
be quite devoid of humOr or any sense
= thereof, for it is certainly one of the
most droll-looking methods Of progress
sion Imaginable. But, as DR.. Johnson
is reported to have said of the dancing
3 -etog. the wonder is not that he should
Z perform so strangely, but that he
should perform at all. For the body
in The adult will weigh nearly ton
and the road over which the creature
ordinarily travels is one of the most
rugged or slippery imaginable, foe
with a surface like mirror, or mass
OF rough hummocks, where the ice mas
been broken up by the sea and coming
together again has conglomeratcd anc
congealed in the most fantastic shapes
CONFORMATION OF THE WAL
RUS.
At the upper extremity OF this Obi0nE
mass Of flesh is the head, ludicrously
small as compared with the body
looks almost as if the body had sud
denly tapered to q slightly elongated
point. And where one naturally looks
for the brain, 1T the top OF the skull
there is apparently no room for one
only a fat, solid-looking mass of bone
The skull, however, is abnormally pow
erfuI, as it need be- for depending from
it at right angles are the characteristic
tuSks like a pair of pickGXes. Witt
these the walrus, suddenly rising from
the bottom, hooks on to an ice foe
and with an almost incredible eXhlbi
ton of strength, hauls himself up Gu
Of the water and into the berth he ha
selected for his supbath or doZe. Wit
the same tuSks, too, he digs in the sea
bed for his food, which is principally
shellfsh. although he does not disdai
the offal of q dead whale, or indee
anything OF an animal nature, so lOr
as il does not involve the chase Of til
object. Pusuit is not at all in th
program OF the Walrus except unde
certain circumstances, to be allude
10 presently. The stomach OF walru
that I once examined Caught on
foe in Boring Straits looked like tt
contents of an oyster drcgdc jus
hauled I'D. Curious slellfish Of mar
kinds, and in several cases alive
stones, sand, mud, shrimDs, worms an
other things; it was a queer collection
Yet it seemed, If such was his regula
diet-and / have no reason to suppos
that that it was MOTTO have suite
the waiFus very we'll indeed, fordE
WAC so fct that ont of his wounds c.
uded almost as much oil as blood.
AS might be supposed frcr1 tic n;
tyre Of its food the walrus is 4 gent
ard ilof.cnsive creature. Eere agai
q sense of extreme inconGruity
aroused il one at the sight OF NOR:
suddenly popping NJ from uadcr =
sca. Its appearance is savage il III