Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-01-10

as ny mcduS "a Inc udlp OOa uuc the
sinking bodies can be recovered.
whereas, if struck by a bullet. they
often sink before the boat can reach
them. The wooden boat and her
crew protect the kyak from destruc-
ton and gather up the spoil as 1t Is
acquired. A walrus weighs from 1000
to 1000 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, being in good
demand in England and America for
this purpose The flesh is used by
the natives always, and by whites
too, when nothing better is to be-
had. The creatures are latest in
winter, this being no doubt provi-
live chiefly on CLAIMS and shellfish,
which they dig from the strand where
the beds of these exist. 1t is In this
work that they wear out their tusks,
and not. as some suggest, by fight
ing or dragging themselves upon the
ice. When they are in their prime
their tusks are long and much sought
after as trophies, but as they grow
old the tusks wear down. and as they
can not longer get at the clans they
lie on the ice anu try for seals. They
are gregarious, and sometimes herd
viii number twenty.
When the hunters boats dash
among them they below furiously.
and rear up against the gunwale, rs
many as three or four angry heads
showing, while they try to overturn
the boat but If their tusks are poor.
and better off with the oars, while IL
they are to be killed charge OF
shot is sent down their open throats
and then harpooned to be towed
back to the shore and cut up.
The eskimos formerly harpooned !,
and then lanced the creatures, but
now use firearms instead of iances
TO kill them, this being less danger
Gus, as the walrus are most vicious
when wounded II is rather note
worthy, in this connection. that the
Eskimos of these northern waters
are no longer able to hunt and kiln
whales with their harpoons and other
primitive weapons, the former being
stuck into the leviathans in great
with bladders OF air at
tached. till It was unable to sink, and
was then despatched with a long
spear thrust into its vitals. Contact
with the white man has robbed the
Eskimo of his proficiency In this.
and now he has to rely entirely up
on the white mans boats, firearms
and other lethal Weapons.
Many fierce combat takes place
in the north between the walrus and
the Polar bear. The latter stalks the
walrus as 1t lies asleep on the foe or
the shore, approaching on hind feet
like Kipling's Adam Zoo the bear
that walks like q man." and carrying
in the forepays block Of ice to drop
on the walrus and crush its skull
with. IL the aim is good the bears
meal is easily secured, but IL the wal.
rus awakens there Is 4 battle royal.
The fighters are almost equally
except, perhaps, that the
bear is more at homo on the foe and
can thus retreat II he finds that he
can not win, but otherwise he makes
his kill. Once in a while, however.
a walrus is secured by the hunter
whose battle-scared TANKS attest that
he has been in conflict with the one
enemy, save man, whom he has in the
Arctic regions The Eskimos tell
stories Of these encounters.
many Of which they have Witnessed;
and the skull Of the walrus is so
thick and It's hide 80 tough that it
seems incredible how the bear can win
the struggle. But be usually is tho
victor, and then the Esltimos steal
rs near as possible, AMI while Bruin
Is gorging himself, emu his existence
with bullet and secure both car
cases and hides.
A seasons kin OF walrus In Frob-
sher Bay is about from eighty TO a
but they are more numerous
further north, and Peary has shot
300 in a month in Melville Inlet. to
use as food for hh dogs in his polar
rips. He used his steamer In
1unting them, and, OF course, such a
,ruise is devoid OF danger, as hts
Sskimos perch themselves In tho
rigging and harpoon the creatures as
ne pots them from the quarterback.
The walrus is one OF the mainstays
II the Eskimo, his flesh being their
Iood, his bubber yielding the oil With
which they heat their homes, hts
bile supplying ropes and harness for
The dogs, his tusks and bone con-
yerted into various implements ana
bartered for the articles the white
man brings. Beside hunting the
man brings. Beside hunting the
walrus, the musk oxen are hunted In
and and fhp arctic fnvao tranna,s