Farthest North.

Manawatu Herald, 8 July 1897, Page 2

Farthest North.

ni OCCIDENTS. la the Polar seas the crew of the Ffam filled the boiler of their engine with fresh water from the sea surface. On September 12th, 1898, Henrikßen awoke Dr Nansen with the information that there were several walruses lyiflg on a floe quite close. A WALRUS BATTUE. " The walruses were lying crowded together on a floe a little to landward of us " so Dr Nansen says, " blue mountains glittering behind them in the sun. At last the harpoons were sharpened, guns and cartridges ready, and Henriksen, Juell and I set off. There seemed to be a slight breeze from the south, so we rowed to the north side of the floe, to get to leeward of the animals. From time to time their sentry raised his head, but apparently did not see us. We advanced slowly, and soon were so near that we had to row very cautiously. Juell kept us going, while Henriksen was ready in the bow with a harpoon, and I behind him with a gun. The moment the sentry raised his head the oars stopped, and we stood motionless ; when he sunk it again, a few more strokes brought us nearer." "Body to body they lay closepacked on a small floe, old and young ones mixed, enormous masses of flesh they were 1 Now and again one of the ladies fanned herself by moving one of her flappers backwards and forwards over her body ; then she lay quiet again on her back or side. Whilst I sat ready with the gun, Henriksen took a good grip of the harpoon shaft, and as the boat touched the floe he rose, and off flew the harpoon. But it struck too high, glanced off the tough hide, and skipped over the backs of the animals. Now there was a pretty to do I Ten or twelve great weird faces glared upon us at once; the colossal creatures twisted themselves round with increditable celerity, and came waddling with lifted heads and hollow bellowings to the edge of the ice where we lay. It was undeniably an imposing sight; but I laid my gun to my shoulder and fired at one of the biggest heads. The animal staggered, and then .fell headforemost into the water. Now a ball into another head ; this creature fell too, but was able to fling himself into the sea. And now the whole flock dashed in, and we. as well as they were hidden in spray. It had all happened in a few seconds. But up they came immediately round the boat, the one head bigger and uglier than the other — their young; oneß olose beside them. They stood up in the water, bellowed, and roared till the air trembled, threw themselves forward towards us, then rose up again, and new bellowings filled the air. Then they rolled over and disappeared with a splash, then bobbed up again. The water foamed and boiled for yards around — the ice world that had been so still before seemed in a moment to have been transformed into a raging Bedlam. Any moment we might expect to have a walrus tusk or two through the boat, or to be heaved up and capsized. Something of this kind was the very least that could happen after such a terrible commotion. But the hurly-burly went on and nothing came of it." THE WALBUS. The common walrus attains a total length of 10 to 12 feet in the full grown male. A weight of 2,500 to 3,000 lbs is acquired by old bulls, with a yield of 600 lbs of blubber. The whole length of the canines (tusks) is about two feet when they are full grown, with a projection of 15 inches ox more. These teeth are | used in digging for clams which form the principal food of the animal, and in climbing over uneven surfaces of ice. Young and middle-aged individuals of both sexes are covered with a short ooarse hair of a yellowish-brown colour, deepening into dark reddish-brown on the

belly and at the bases of the limbs* The blabber yields a valuable oil } from the bide a very tough and durable leather is taadej arid the tusks yield a superior ivory* (To be continued.)