THE USE OF THE WALRUS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 244, 13 October 1881, Page 1

THE USE OF THE WALRUS.

Id looking at the uncouth animal, the most natural question at once arises— What earthly service can such an ungainly, BtupiJ beast render ? What, indeed, is ibe use of' its existence ? But the anawer is swift and satisfactory j were it not for tha subsistence furnished so ; largely by the flesh and hii of ([the: morse, it is exte. diogly douhtful whether the Esquimau! of North from Behringi Strain clear found to Labrador, ooold: manage to live. It' ia not !^ to *he inferred that weir ua meat is tbe sole diet of these simple people, for that is very wide of the troth ; but there are several months of every year when theexigen-i oi<?8 of the clitaaie render it absolutely ! impossible for the 'hardiest notive to go 1 out and procure . food, and then the value :.of the _caske of walrus meat is appreciated, when for weeks and weeks it forms the beginning and end of every I meal. The walrus responds to as! many demands of the lunuit as the camel of the Arab, or tbe cocoa paimi of the South- Sea islander. -I.s flssh feeds him ; itß oil illuminates and warms hia hut ; ita sinews make his bird-nets ; ita tough ekin, skilfully stretched over the light wooden frame, constitutes- -bis* famous kayak, and the serviceable oomiak, or bidanah ; its intestines are converted into water-proof clothino, while the sales to its flippers are transferred to his feet ; and, finally, its ivory is a Bource of endless utility to bim in domestic use and in trade and and barter. Walrus famiaes among the Esquimaux hove been recorded in pathetio legends by almost all of the savage settlements in thei Arctic. Even now, as I write (November, 1880) i cornea the airihajit-C! corroboration of the harsh rumor; of the staryition of the interesting I inhabitants of '.'St. J^awr ence Island — I those people wbo lire jast midway between the Old- World : and tbeNe<Vj in A'askac waters. The Mats.. of 1879---80 was onepf exceptionai rigor in the! Arctic, though in this country it was! unusually mild and open. The ice, closed in solid around St; Lawrence* Island— t-3'o firm and unanakeh by^the mighty powers of wind .and itid&i that the 7 walrus were ; driven far to the southward: ahd: eastward; out of 1 reach! of the unhappy ihhabitantsr .of ihati island, who, thua uai.SjpeCtediy '-, 4e-j prived of their mainstay and support, e*-<m to have miserably starved to deptd' with the exception of ona pm^ll Village on ihe north shore. The residents of tbe Poonook, Poogoveliyak, and Nagal-j legak settlements perished, to a soulj iromhuiger— nearly 300, mepj.womehji and children. I , was 'among these people in 1874, during the month of August, and remarked7iheir miinifbld superiority over th 6 savjtges of the north weßt coast; and-' the great ;.pJaina. Tbey seemed then to live during nine months 1 ot the yeat; almost wholly iipon the flesh andoil of the walrus. Vole ! an limbed, btighl-eyed end jovia), tbey profoundly impressed; one wita their hsppy BUbßistence and reliance opon the walrus herds of fiehring7Se^; -nd it was .remarked then that Ihese people had neve* beehsubjected to the temptatioi.— -acd subsequent sorrow— of putting their trust in princes : henae their independence and good heartl But now it appears that it will not Buflice, either, to put your' trust in wnirus. '„'..

errested, and proved to be a wealthy Sarmat»an> mag nate, well koown as a sportsman and patron of ell publio amusements. When interrogated by the Commissary of Police with respect to the motive of his extraordinary con--dact*. he coolly replied thaf, having been extremely diverted by the clown's featP, he had felt himself bound to fire a ealote in Tanti'a honour, This method of signifying approval does not lack yigour, and is probably quite congenial to the Slavonic notion of how a popular artist ought to be encouraged oy the nobility, but it has its dtaadf vantages.