The walrus has been called “the lion of the seas.” He is a huge animal, often eighteen feet in length. His head is square, and his cheeks and lips are covered with quills like bristles. From his face also extend the tusks, which on the larger animals are often thirty inches in length, and are prized as ivory. Altogether the walrus is a fierce-looking creature, with a tough hide and an ugly temper.

Like the seal, the walrus has to come to the surface of the water to breathe. So Dr. Kane and his Eskimo friends tried to find open water, or, at least, a place where the ice was thin. The walrus has a habit of bellowing as he lies on the ice, so that hunters are guided by this strange and terrible sound. Every few minutes the hunters took off their fur hoods to listen.

At last a large walrus rose through the ice, breaking it with a loud crash. Just as the animal rose out of the water, Dr. Kane and the Eskimos fell at full length, flat on the ice. As soon as the head of the walrus sank below the water again, the hunters jumped up and ran toward the hole, where they knew it would soon reappear. Every time the head of the animal was seen coming to the surface, the hunters would fall to the ice or hide themselves behind hummocks. In this way—now running, now hiding—they at last came near enough to the walrus to throw their harpoon into its body. Tied to the harpoon was a long rope of walrus hide, which uncoiled rapidly as an Eskimo ran away to solid ice with one end in his hand. When at a safe distance, he drove a spike of bone into the ice and fastened the end of the rope to it.

Meanwhile, the powerful walrus had been struggling in the water, breaking up the ice around with a frightful noise. The Eskimos tightened the rope whenever they could, and again the walrus rose and threw his powerful body against the ice, breaking it away; now they had to work fast. First one, and then another, would seize the spike and run with it and the rope to a safe place. In this way they tired the animal out, and were able to give him a second wound.

During this battle the walrus roared hideously, using his tusks fiercely. He rushed toward the men and tore away great pieces of ice with his tusks, but though he received many lance wounds, he never once showed fear or made any attempt to run away.

When the great beast was dead, the Eskimos drew it up on the ice, the flesh was divided, and Dr. Kane packed his share upon his sledge. Then with his own four dogs he set out to return to the brig. He himself ran most of the way home, because the dogs had difficulty in drawing the heavy load. The crew were glad to see Kane once more, and glad, too, for what he had brought. During the winter fresh meat had been so scarce that many of the men became sick with the terrible disease which salt meat produces.

Toward spring Dr. Kane and Hans went hunting for seals. The seal comes up under the ice where it is thinnest, and scratches a hole through it with his sharp claws. Then he hollows out the snow above and makes an opening just large enough to allow the air to pass through; this is his breathing hole. It is so small that often one cannot see it, but the seal makes a blowing noise in breathing, and the hunters have learned to listen for this sound.

Kane and Hans often sat many hours on a block of ice beside a hole, waiting for a seal. When the seal appeared, one of them quickly thrust a spear into him and usually killed him. Then Hans would fasten a thong of walrus hide about the neck of the seal and drag him away, across the ice, to the ship. The meat of the seal is delicious, and great was the rejoicing among the men when a hunting expedition was successful.

When the sun begins to shine, the Eskimos hunt in a different way. They know that the seals like to creep out of the water and lie on the ice in the sunshine. The hunters take with them a sledge with a white screen fastened across it, which they push along in front of them, the screen hiding their bodies from view. A hole in the middle of the screen gives them a chance to see ahead, and provides an opening through which they can point a rifle. When the hunter sees in the distance the bodies of seals lying on the edge of the ice, he pushes his sledge toward them. So quietly and so steadily does he move, that the seals do not become alarmed. They lie still, watching the strange object, until the hunter is near enough to shoot.

When the summer comes it is still easier to hunt seals, for their eyes are blinded by the bright sun shining on the snow and ice, and the hunters can often walk within gunshot of them without using the screen.

Kane’s party had plenty of fresh seal meat to eat in the summer time. From the fat of each animal they obtained about five gallons of oil, which they used in their lamps. The fur made warm coats and trousers, while the hides were used for covering the boats and for whiplashes. Dr. Kane learned not to waste any part of the seal’s body; even the bones could be used for hooks and for the handles of tools.

There is another animal in the cold regions which hunters are eager to slay. This is the large, fierce polar bear. He has a flat head, a long neck, and smooth, white fur. He is always found near the sea, where he pursues seals both in the water and on ice, and preys upon fishes and birds.

Kane had many a chase over the ice after the bears. When a bear track is seen on the ice or snow, the dogs are immediately set upon the trail. The hunters follow the dogs quickly and silently. When they come within sight of the bear, the hunter releases the dogs from their harness, so that they may surround the bear and cut off his retreat. The dogs are carefully trained not to fight the bear, but to annoy him. They run around him in circles and prevent him from making his escape. The bear, when brought to bay, rises on his haunches, seizes the nearest dog in his teeth and tosses him to one side. The dogs instinctively relax their muscles in falling, and are seldom hurt; they usually rise immediately and return to the conflict. In this way the bear is detained until the hunters arrive.

Sometimes two hunters engage one animal, striking at him with their lances. Two men can easily kill a bear. As one man pretends to thrust his lance into the right side, the animal turns, and tries to protect himself with his fore paws. Then the other hunter gives him his death wound in the left side.

A man must have a great deal of skill and courage to be able to kill a polar bear single-handed. The single hunter provokes the bear to follow him by running as if trying to escape. The bear comes down on all four feet and prepares to pursue the man. With a rapid jump to the right, the hunter runs back to his first position. The bear turns in the same way to follow, when the hunter skillfully plunges his lance into the left side just below the shoulder. Even then the most expert hunter sometimes has to leave his spear in the animal’s side and run for his life, though a wound given in that spot is usually fatal. The Eskimos hold in highest esteem the hunter who can kill a bear single-handed.

The flesh of the bear is used for food, and the fur for clothing. Dr. Kane killed so many of these animals that he actually tired of the sport.