The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1904-09-08


Ek=SX ugly and uncouth enough
to be one of the very same
family as the dugong. although in
ruth he is nothing of the sort. But at
the outset I feel impelled to enter a
stern protest against the gross libel
upon that beautiful animal, the horse.
perpetrated by calling the walrus a
sea horse and the hippopotamus a river
morse. What in the name of common
sense have either Of these most ungain-
iy brutes in common with one of the
most elegant and beautiful Of all
known animals? Not that I would
rashly call any Of the Creators won
uerful designs ugly-I 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
sensibilities in the comparison, since
the cow is not what one would truth
fully describe as graceful, either in
outline OF movement.
Perhaps of all land-walking animals,
none, not even the Myrmecophagus,
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 unsymmetrical
as leathern bag of Oil or the body
Of hippopotamus. It is covered with
a tough, gnarled hide, scantily clothed
with coarse. brown hair, very patchy;
In facr, not at all unlike one of those
old hair trunks we used to see occa-
sionally. The forelegs are very short,
and the hand-like feet are planted
dat 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
lieu Of tail. Consequently, he who
can watch the progress of a wairus
over land or ice and not laugh must
be quite devoid of humo1 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
dog, the wonder is not that he should
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 surface like a mirror, or mass
OF rough hummocks, where the ice has
been broken up by the sea and coming
together again has conglomerated and
ongealed in the most fantastic shapes.
CONFORMATION OF THE WAL
RUS.
AT the upper extremity of this oblong
mass of flesh is the head, ludicrously
small as compared with the body. It
Pooks almost as if the body had sud-
slenly tapered to a slightly elongated
point. And where one naturally looks
FOR the brain, at the top of the skull,
! there is apparently no room for one,
Hpnly fat, solid-looking mass of bone.
The skull, however, is abnormally DOW
@arful, as it need be, for depending from
It at right angles are the characteristic
<usks like pair of pickaxes. With
these the walrus, suddenly rising from
|Ihe bottom. hooks on to an ice foe,
md with an almost incredible exhibit
ion of strength, hauls himself up out
i 4 the water and into the berth he has
Selected for his sunbath OR doze With
he same tusks, too, he digs in the sea-
bed for his food, which is principally
&heilfsh, although be does not disdain
he cTal of q dead whale, or indeed
anything Of an animal nature, so long
Is it does not involve the chase Of the
olcct. Pusuit is not at all n the
rograr1 of the walrus except under
ertain circumstances, to be alluded
- presently. The stomach Of walrus
bat l once examined Caught ON
oa in Eering Straits) looked like the
pntents ct an oyster Cregde just
Auled ~. Crriors silellash Of many
Gs, and in several cases alive;
mes, sand, mud, slrimps, worns and
ler things; 1t was a queer collection.
et it seemed, If such was lis regular
sct-and have no reason to suppose
lat that it was MOTTO have suited
&c walrus very we'll indeed, for he
as 50 fat that out CT his wounds ex-
s1cd almost as much oil as blood.
AS might be supposed from the ma
IRE of its food the walrus is gentle
id inoffensiye creature. Here again
sense Of extreme ilccngruity is
oused in one at the SIGHT Of a morse
ddenly popping up from under the
ia. Its appearance is savage in the
xtrer1c-no painted Indian ever sue
eeded il making himself look more
rror-striking than the walrus, and
IS bristling whiskers, each hair almost
thick as porcupine quill and COM
8etcly hiding the setting of the tusks,
rive excellcntly to heighten his ap-
arance of ferocity. Yet, generally
leaking, at the sight of man he will
as fast as he can. with every ap-
$arance of earnest desire to get away.
he exceptions to this rule are found
bring the breeding season, among
th males and females, the former in
Tense of the latter. and the latter in