from unalaska, we headed north for the arctic ocean. for one day of calm, we lay again off the little eskimo village of st. lawrence bay and again had the natives as our guests. peter made an elaborate toilet in expectation of seeing once more his little eskimo sweetheart, but she did not come aboard. a little breeze came walking over the sea and pushed us on northward. on august 15, we sailed through behring straits and were at last in the arctic.
the straits are thirty-six miles wide, with east cape, a rounded, dome-shaped mass of black basalt, on the asiatic side and on the american side cape prince of wales, a headland of sharper outline, but neither so lofty nor so sheer. in between the two capes and in line with them, lie the two islands of big and little diomede. through the three narrow channels between the capes and the islands, the tide runs with the swiftness of a river's current.
the eskimos constantly cross from continent to continent in small boats. in still weather the passage can be made in a light kyack with perfect safety. the widest of the three channels is that between big diomede and east cape and is, i should say, not more than fifteen miles across. while we were passing through the straits, we saw a party of eskimos in a skin boat paddling leisurely across from america to asia. they no doubt had been on a visit to relatives or friends on the neighboring continent. we were told that in winter when the straits are frozen solidly, the eskimos frequently walk from one continent to the other.
while we were sailing close to the american shore soon after passing through the straits, the cry of "walrus, walrus!" from the mast-head sent the crew hurrying to the rail to catch a glimpse of these strange creatures which we had not before encountered. we were passing an immense herd. the shore was crowded with giant bulks, lying perfectly still in the sun, while the waters close to land were alive with bobbing heads. at a distance and at first glance, those on shore looked like a vast herd of cattle resting after grazing. they were as big as oxen and when the sun had dried them, they were of a pronounced reddish color. those in the water looked black.
they had a way of sticking their heads and necks straight up out of the sea which was slightly suggestive of men treading water. their heads seemed small for their great bodies and with their big eyes, their beard-like mass of thick bristles about the nose, and their long ivory tusks they had a distinctly human look despite their grotesque ugliness. they lifted their multitudinous voices in gruff, barking roars like so many bulldogs affected with a cold. there must have been 10,000 of them. they paid little attention to the ship. those on shore remained as motionless as boulders.
"want to collect a little ivory?" captain shorey said with a smile to mr. winchester.
"no, thank you, not just now," replied the mate. "i want to live to get back to 'frisco."
an ivory hunter among those tusked thousands doubtless would have fared disastrously. walrus are famous fighters. when attacked, they sometimes upset a boat with their tusks and drown the hunters. they are dangerous even in small herds. moreover they are difficult to kill. their thick hides will turn a bullet that does not hit them solidly. though slow and unwieldy on land or ice, they are surprisingly agile in the water and a harpooned walrus will frequently tow a boat at a dizzy clip.
the region about cape prince of wales is a favorite feeding ground for the animals. the coasts swarm with clams, mussels, and other shell-fish upon which the walrus live. thirteen varieties of edible clams, it is said, have been discovered by scientists about cape prince of wales. the walrus dig these shell-fish out of the sand and rocks with their tusks, crush them with their teeth, eject the shells, and swallow the dainty tidbits. their tusks serve them also as weapons of defense and as hooks by which to haul themselves upon ice floes.
we did not dare take chances in the boats among such vast numbers of these formidable creatures and soon left the great herd astern. a little higher up the coast we ran into a small herd numbering about a hundred, and mr. winchester, armed with his repeating rifle, lowered his boat to have a try for ivory.
when the mate's boat dashed among the animals they did not dive or run away, but held their ground, standing well up out of water and coughing out defiance. long john darted a harpoon into one of the beasts and it plunged below and went scurrying away. one might have thought the boat was fast to a young whale from the way the line sizzled out over the bow. the walrus dragged the boat about half a mile, and when the animal again came to the surface for air mr. winchester killed it with a bullet.
but the blood and the shooting had thrown the remainder of the herd into violent excitement. roaring furiously, the great beasts converged from all sides in the wake of the chase. by the time long john had cut off the head of the dead walrus and heaved it aboard and had recovered his harpoon, the animals were swarming menacingly about the boat. long john, who had been in such ticklish situations before, began to beat a tattoo on the gunwales with his sheath knife, at the same time emitting a series of blood-curdling yells. this was intended to awe the boat's besiegers and had a momentary effect. the brutes stood in the water apparently puzzled, but still roaring savagely. but they were not long to be held off by mere noise. led by a monster bull, they rushed at the boat in a concerted attack. the sailors belabored them over the head with the sweeps. the mate pumped lead into them from his rifle. still they came on.
when captain shorey, who had been watching the battle from the quarter-deck, saw how serious the situation was becoming, he grew alarmed.
"those men will be killed," he shouted to mr. landers. "call the watch and lower those other boats, and be quick about it."
in a jiffy the boats were lowered, the crews piled in, masts were stepped, and we shot away to the rescue. but the mate's crew solved their own problem before we could come into action. when it seemed likely the walrus would swamp the boat, long john harpooned the leader of the herd. the big walrus dived and made off, hauling the boat out of the midst of the furious brutes to safety. the other animals did not pursue. they bobbed about the scene of the conflict for some time and finally disappeared. long john killed the big bull to which the boat was fast, cut off its head, and the boat went back to the battleground to take similar toll of the walrus that had died under the mate's rain of bullets. eight carcasses were found afloat and as many more probably had sunk.
ten heads with their ivory tusks were brought aboard the brig as trophies of the hunt. the tusks of the bull that had led the attack measured two feet six inches. the animal, according to mr. winchester, must have been ten or twelve feet long. the mate estimated its weight at 1,800 pounds—a guess, of course, but perhaps a close one.