years ago a specimen was brought alive by some of the Arctic
adventurers, and excited no little surprise, as old Purchas tells us. It
was in the year 1608, when "the king and many honourable personages
beheld it with admiration, for the strangeness of the same, the like
whereof had never before beene seene alive in England. Not long after it
fell sicke and died. As the beast in shape is very strange, so is it of
strange docilitie, and apt to be taught, as by good experience we often
proved."

The figure which accompanies this paper was drawn from our late lamented
visitor by Mr Wolf, who sketched it before its removal to the Zoological
Gardens. Captain Henry caught it during a whaling expedition, and sent
it to London. Though quite young, it was nearly four feet in length; and
when the person who used to feed it came into the room, it would give
him an affectionate greeting, in a voice somewhat resembling the cry of
a calf, but considerably louder. It walked about, but, owing to its
weakness, soon grew tired, and lay down. Unlike the seals, to which it
is closely allied, the walrus has considerable power with its limbs when
out of the water, and can support its bulky body quite clear of the
ground. Its mode of progression, however, is awkward when compared with
ordinary quadrupeds; its hind-limbs shuffling along, as if inclosed in a
sack. In some future season, when a lively specimen reaches the Gardens,
and is accommodated with an extensive tank of water, there is no reason
why the walrus should not thrive as well as the seal, or his close,
though not kind, neighbour of the North, the Polar bear.

[Illustration: The Walrus.]

The walrus, _morse_, or _sea-horse_ (_Trichechus rosmarus_, Linn.[147]),
is one of the most characteristic inhabitants of the Arctic regions.
There it is widely distributed, and thence it seldom wanders. One or two
specimens were killed on the shores of the northern Scottish islands in
1817 and 1825; but these instances seem hardly to admit of its
introduction into our _fauna_, any more than West Indian beans, brought
by the currents, are admissible into our _flora_. It is mentioned by
some old Scottish writers[148] among our native animals, and at one time
may have been carried to our coasts on some of the bergs, which are
occasionally seen in the German Ocean after the periodical disruptions
of the Arctic ice. Like the Polar bear, however, the walrus has
evidently been formed by its Creator fo