, with a loud
bellow, and the Irishman started back in terror, as he surveyed at close
quarters, for the first time, the colossal and horrible countenance of
this elephant of the Northern Seas. O'Riley was no coward, but the
suddenness of the apparition was too much for him, and we need not
wonder that in his haste he darted the harpoon far over the animal's
head into the sea beyond. Neither need we feel surprised that when Fred
took aim at its forehead, the sight of its broad muzzle fringed with a
bristling moustache, and defended by huge tusks, caused him to miss it
altogether. But O'Riley recovered, hauled his harpoon back, and
succeeded in planting it deep under the creature's left flipper; and
Fred, reloading, lodged a ball in its head, which finished it. With
great labour the four men, aided by the dogs, drew it out upon the ice.

This was a great prize, for walrus-flesh is not much inferior to beef,
and would be an acceptable addition of fresh meat for the use of the
_Dolphin's_ crew; and there was no chance of it spoiling, for the frost
was now severe enough to freeze every animal solid almost immediately
after it was killed.

The body of this walrus was not less than eighteen feet long and eleven
in circumference. It was more like an elephant in bulk and rotundity
than any other creature. It partook very much of the form of a seal,
having two large paw-like flippers, with which, when struggling for
life, it had more than once nearly succeeded in getting upon the ice.
Its upper face had a square, bluff aspect, and its broad muzzle and
cheeks were completely covered by a coarse, quill-like beard of
bristles, which gave to it a peculiarly ferocious appearance. The notion
that the walrus resembles man is very much overrated. The square, bluff
shape of the head already referred to destroys the resemblance to
humanity when distant, and its colossal size does the same when near.
Spine of the seals deserve this distinction more, their drooping
shoulders and oval faces being strikingly like to those of man when at a
distance. The white ivory tusks of this creature were carefully measured
by Fred, and found to be thirty inches long.

The resemblance of the walrus to our domestic land-animals has obtained
for it, among sailors, the names of the sea-horse and sea-cow; and the
records of its ferocity when attacked are numerous. Its hide is nearly
an inch thick, and is put to many useful purposes by the Esquimaux, who
liv