The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-12-17
HUNTING THE WALRUS
HOTV THEY ARE PURSUED BY VENTURESOME SPORTSMAN,

Known to Rip Plank Out of the
 Bottom of Boat With One Stroke of
 Their Powerful Tusks.
 As the buffalo has been extermln- ated from the animal kingdom, the dodo and great aux from the bird world, and the whale now nirtually being killed out so speedily that its early annihilation is inevitable, so like fate has befallen the walrus, and 1t can now only be obtained in the re- mote fostnesses of the Arctic seas, whereas one hundred years ago it abounded on the shores of Newfound- land, Anticosti and the Gulf of St. Lawrence But the unrestrained lust for the slaughter of every oil yielding marine creature which prevailed in those days cause wholesale putchery of the walrus by American, British and colonial whalemen, and to-day one cannot secure a solitary specimen of a live walrus anywhere south of Hud- son Strait.
 There, however, venturesome voy- agers still pursue them, since with their growing scarcity has come an in- crease In the value of their hides, tusks and oil. A favorite resort for them now is Frobisner Bay, one of the great flords that penetrate into the heart of Baffin Land, into which it strikes back two hundred miles. Here, in oine of its numerous unnamed har- bors, the walrus hunters will build themselves a hut on shore, covered with felt and thickly banked with snow, so as to increase it's warmth in winter laying up their little schooner at anchor, as the business will not pay to engage a steamer. Some Esquimau tribes are settled in this bay, and with the aid of these the hunting of the walrus, as well as the musk oxen, polar bears and silver foxes, is done, The natives are faithful and honest, expert hunters and unwearing help CTS; and in their rude kyaks, or na- tive boats, are equal to any emer- gency that the waters of this isolated
 
 Walrus hunting is a very risky pursuit, as these animals become very dangerous when they have their young with them or are chased by boats or kyaks. June and July are the best months to stalk them, as they are then hunted on the outside ice, which is broken up into fragments, or pans" and not frozen into vast sheet like the shore ice. Large boats, as well as kyaks, are essential to the hunt, to pursue the quarry and har- poon 1t when shot, else it will sink. The herds have always a watchman, and if angry will make for the boats and attack them. It is not uncommon for an infuriated bull walrus to charge a boat and rip plank out of its bottom with single stroke of his powerful tusks, unless stopped by a rifle bullet as he approaches, and if he seriously injures a boat it has to be hauled up on a pan of ice and the
 crew remain there till another stiff is sent out for them ,and the injured one is lowed home to be repaired, while days hunting is usually lost when such a mishap occurs, More than once boats have been upset and men drowned by a herd of Walruses attacking them, and many an Esqui- mau family has lost it's bread winner by having his frail skin kyak ripped apart by a savage specimen, himself being thrown into the water and then killed by his assailant's tusks These natives do not, however, lace them selves into the manholes of the boats, as do the Greenlanders, or the fatali- ties would be greater. They swim like fishes, and when attacked abandon the boat, dive below the water and make for a pan of ice, on to which they climber until rescued.
 The mode of fishing is for a wooden whaleboat, with a crew of six or eight men, to proceed to the chase, accom- panied by a native in a kyak to fling the harpoon, this being the most sat isfactory way of killing them, as by means of the harpoon line the sink ing bodies can be recovered, where as, if struck by bullet, they often sink before the boat can reach them The wooden boat and her crew pro tect the kyak from destruction and gather up the spoil as it is acquired A walrus weights from 1000 to 1,600 pounds, according to age, food, and condition. They do not yield much fat. this coating being only about a hands breadth thick, and eight or ten of them are needed to make ton of oil. The skin, which is very hard, thick and tough, is used chiefly for polishing brass, steel and other metals heinz in good demand in England and America for these purposes. The flesh ts used by the natives always, and by whites, too, when nothin better is to he had. The creatures are fattest in winter, this being no doubt a provis- ion of Nature is their behalf. They live chiefly on clans and shellfish, which they dig from the strand where the beds of these exist, It is in this work that the wear out their tusks and not. as some suggest, by fighting or dragging themselves upon the ice When they are in their prime their tusks are lon and much sought after as trophies, but as they grow old the tusks wear down, and as they can no longer get at the clans they lie on the ice and try for seals. They are greearious, and sometimes a herd will rumber twenty.
 When the hunters boats dash among them they will below furiously, and
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