The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-09-16

back from swimming too fast.
After getting the harpoon into the
walrus they back away. The ami
nal has TO get up every FIVE min
utes to breathe, and it tries to get
up on the ice, and the men then
throw big ivory lance and they
keep on doing that until the ami
NAL bleeds to death.
l watched them one day for
about two hours getting one big
walrus. l was in my motorboat
at the time, and said, Il can beat
that way; l can kill walrus quicker
than the natives can harpoon
them" The first officer was at
the wheel and DR.. Cook at the
stern, and ! had the whole boat,
which was about thirty feet long,
to myself. l had harpoon, but
was going to try to kill them with
a rifle. You must hit them in the
head-otherwise they will go into
the water-and you must kill them
with a steel bullet. SO we man
euvered through the ice until we
saw about thirty walrus on a pan
Of ice about 200 feet square.
said to my FIRST officer, Go up on
the ice" We had heard how
dangerous the walrus were-that
they could easily kick a plank ont
of the boat. The first officer was
rather afraid and said, IF wal
rus gets in the boat I will hit him
with an ak.
l said, They can't catch this
boat. Go right around and around
and will do the rest oft" There
were about thirty walrus. l killed
three of them and the others
charged the boat, but as we went
around they could not catch us.
We secured the wounded walrus,
cut them up and put them in the
dory. We cached the meat for
DR.. Cook S expedition.
The natives stack it up the same
as wood and freeze it. I chased
up a herd Of females once-the
males are generally together and
the females are together with their
young-I chased this bunch Of
eight or nine females, didn't know
they were females until after l had
killed some of them. We got up
pretty close and circled around,
and as we did 50 | wounded some
of them, among others one young
ster. Then the whole bunch stood
round the youngster, which weigh
ed about 200 pounds, The mother
was around this youngster, hold
ing it up, and that gave me the
chance to kill the old ones, Those
in the dory began putting the har-
poons in the old ones so they
would not sink. l had Just wound
ed this youngster, which could not
swim. Dr.. Cook and l pulled him
in the launch, and it almost upset
the boat-he was about FIVE or six
months Old-and all at once he be-
gan to flap and set up his fms. l
was sitting on him and he threw
me of. l had to hit him over the
head with an ak and kill him or
he would have upset the boat
The natives all laughed. They
thought it was such great fun get
ting this live walrus in a boat.
We were about eight or ten miles
from the vessel, so we tied those
we had killed and pulled them up
on the shore, eight in all. l went
out the next day, killed FIVE in the
same place. I finally killed all there
were in the herd This was about
eight miles from Etah about 78.I8
north latitude.
Then l used TO go out and get
arctic hares, which are really big
rabbits. The natives make boots
out Of the sealskin and used the
hares for their socks. Their un.
derclothes consist of shirt, for
which they used aux. That is
what they wear during the winter
time, and DR.. Cook and all his men
wore the same. Sometimes there
would be a school of Walrus of one