a great battle with the walrus.
it need scarcely be said that there was a jovial feast that night at supper. the bear’s tongue was cooked after all, but the impudent tongues of the party were not silenced, for they almost worried the life out of poor davy for having run away from a bear.
soon after this event the preparations for spending the winter were completed; at least as far as the fitting up of the vessel was concerned.
“this morning,” writes gregory, in his journal, “we finished housing over our arctic home. the hope is very snug, lined with moss, and almost covered with snow. a sail has been spread over the quarter-deck like an awning; it is also covered with moss and snow. this, we hope, will give much additional warmth to our house below. we all live together now, men and officers. it will require our united strength to fight successfully against that terrible enemy, john frost. john is king of the arctic regions, undoubtedly!
“dawkins got a cold-bath yesterday that amused the men much and did him no harm. for some time past we have been carrying moss from the island in large bundles. dawkins got leave to help, as he said he was sick-tired of always working among stores. he was passing close to the fire-hole with a great bundle of moss on his back, when his foot slipped, and down he went. this hole is kept constantly open. it is baker’s duty night and morning to break the ice and have it ready in case of fire. the ice on the surface was therefore thin; in a moment nothing was to be seen of poor dawkins but his bundle! fortunately he held tight on to it, and we hauled him out, soaked to the skin. the thermometer stood at 35 degrees below zero, the coldest day we have had up to this time; and in two minutes the unfortunate man’s clothes were frozen so stiff that he could scarcely walk! we had to break the ice on his legs and arms at the joints, and even then he had to be half hoisted on board and carried below. we all dress in seal-skin and fox-skin garments now. dawkins had on a rough coat, made of white and grey foxes; trousers of the same; boots of seal-skin, and mittens ditto. when all this was soaked and frozen he was truly a humbling sight!
“the undressing of him was a labour of difficulty as well as of love. however, when he was rubbed dry, and re-clothed, he was none the worse. indeed, i am inclined to think he was much the better of his ducking.
“to-morrow we are to make some curious experiments with boats, sledges, and kites. the captain is anxious to take our largest boat over the ice as far to the south as possible, and leave her there with a quantity of provisions, so that we may have her to fall back upon if any misfortune should befall the brig, which i earnestly pray that god may forbid.
“davy butts, who is an ingenious fellow in his way, says that we can sail a boat on the ice almost as well as on the water, and that we may drag sledges by means of kites, if we choose. the captain means to attempt a journey to the north with sledges in spring, so, if the kites answer, butts will have done us good service. but i have my doubts.
“the nights are closing in fast; very soon we shall be without the sun altogether. but the moon is cheering us. last night, (28th october) she swept in a complete circle round the sky all day as well as all night. she only touched the horizon, and then, instead of setting, she rose again, as if the frozen sea had frightened her.
“october 30th.—baker came in to-day and reported open water about six miles off, and walrus sporting in it. i shall set out to-morrow on a hunt.”
the hunt which the young doctor here wrote of came off the following day, but it was a very different one from what any of the men had expected.
early in the morning, baker, davy butts, and gregory set off on foot, armed with a rifle and two muskets, besides a couple of harpoons, a whale-lance, and a long line. they also took a small sledge, which was intended to be used in hauling home the meat if they should be successful. three hours’ hard walking brought the party to the edge of the solid ice, after which they travelled on the floes that were being constantly broken by the tides, and were only joined together by ice of a night or two old. this was little more than an inch thick, so they had to advance with caution.
presently the loud mooing of a bull walrus was heard. its roar was something between the lowing of a bull and the bark of a large dog, but much louder, for the walrus resembles an elephant in size more than any other animal. soon after they came in sight of their game. five walrus were snorting and barking in a hole which they had broken in the ice. the way in which this huge monster opens a hole when he wants to get out of the sea is to come up from below with considerable violence and send his head crashing through the ice.
the three men now became very wary. they crept on their hands and knees behind the ice-hummocks until within about a hundred yards of the brutes. then they ascended a small hummock to take a look round and decide on their plan of operations. while lying there, flat on their faces, they took particular care to keep their heads well concealed, just raising them high enough to observe the position of the walrus. there was a sheet of flat ice between them and the hole, so that it was impossible to advance nearer without being seen. this perplexed them much, for although their bullets might hit at that distance, they would not be able to run in quick enough to use their lances, and the harpoons would be of no use at all.
while thus undecided what to do, they were unexpectedly taught a lesson in walrus-hunting that surprised them not a little.
“hallo! there’s a bear!” whispered davy butts, as a hairy object crawled out from behind an ice-hummock about two hundred yards from the place where they lay, and made toward the walrus in a sly, cat-like manner.
“more like a seal,” observed baker.
“a seal! why, it’s a man!” said gregory, in a low, excited whisper.
“so it is, sure enough,” said baker; “it must be an eskimo, though his hairy garments make him look more like a bear than a man, and as the fellow has got here before us, i suppose we must give up our claim to the brutes.”
“time enough to talk of that when the brutes are killed,” said gregory with a smile. “but lie still, lads. we will take a lesson from this fellow, who has been so earnestly staring at the walrus that he has not noticed us.”
the three men lay perfectly motionless watching the native, who crept as near to the hole as he could without being seen, and then waited for a few minutes until the creatures should dive. this they were constantly doing; staying down a few moments at a time, and then coming up to breathe—for the walrus cannot live without air. he is not a fish, and although he can stay down a long time, he must come to the surface occasionally to breathe. in this he resembles the seal and the whale.
presently, down they all went with a tremendous splash. now was the moment! the eskimo rose, ran at full speed for a few yards, then fell flat on his face, and lay quite still as if he had been shot dead. the reason of this was soon apparent. he understood the habits of the walrus, and knew that they would rise again. this they did almost the moment after, and began their snorting, bellowing, and rolling again. once more they dived. up got the eskimo, ran a few yards further forward, and then fell flat down as before. in this way he got near to the hole without being seen.
the watchers observed that he carried a harpoon and a coil of thick line.
the next time the walrus dived he ran to the edge of the hole, but now, instead of falling down, he stood quite still with the harpoon raised above his head ready to be thrown. in a few moments the monsters reappeared. two rose close at the edge of the hole; one was a male, the other a female. they were frightfully ugly to look at. shaking the water from his head and shoulders, the bull at once caught sight of the man who had thus suddenly appeared. at that instant the eskimo threw up his left arm. this action, instead of frightening the brutes away, caused them to raise themselves high out of the water, in order to have a good look at the strange creature who had thus dared to disturb them in their watery home. this was just what the native wanted. it gave him a chance of driving the harpoon under the flipper of the male. the instant this was done he caught up the end of his coil and ran quickly back to the full length of the line.
the battle that now begun was perhaps one of the fiercest that was ever fought in the arctic regions. the walrus lashed the water furiously for a second or two and dived. this checked the native, who at once stopped running, drove the sharp point of a little piece of wood into the ice, and put the loop at the end of his line over it. he pressed the loop close down to the ice with his feet, so that he could hold on when it tightened, which it did with great force. but the line was a stout one. it had been cut from the hide of a walrus, and prepared in a peculiar way for the purpose of standing a heavy strain.
the eskimo now played the monster as an angler plays a trout. at one moment he held on, the next he eased off. the line was sometimes like a bar of iron, then it was slackened off as the animal rose and darted about. after this had happened once or twice the bull came to the surface, blowing tremendously, and began to bark and roar in great fury. the female came up at the same time. she evidently meant to stick by her partner and share his danger. the others had dived and made off at the first sign of war.
the wounded walrus was a little flurried and very angry; the female was not at all frightened, she was passionately furious! both of them tore up the ice tables with their great ivory tusks, and glared at their enemy with an expression that there was no mistaking. the walrus is well known to be one of the fiercest animals in the world. woe to the poor native if he had been caught by these monsters at that time.
after some minutes spent in uselessly smashing the ice and trying to get at the native, they both dived. now came into play the eskimo’s knowledge of the animal’s habits and his skill in this curious kind of warfare. before diving they looked steadily at the man for a second, and then swam under the ice straight for the spot where he stood. the eskimo of course could not see this, but he knew it from past experience. he therefore changed his position instantly; ran a few yards to one side, and planted his stick and loop again. this had hardly been done when the ice burst up with a loud crash; a hole of more than fifteen feet wide was made on the exact spot which the man had quitted, and the walrus appeared with a puff like that of a steam-engine, and a roar that would have done credit to a lion.
the great lumpish-looking heads and square-cut faces of the creatures looked frightful at this point in the fight. there was something like human intelligence in their malicious and brutal faces, as the water poured down their cheeks and over their bristling beards, mingled with blood and foam.
at this moment there was a shout close at hand, and two other eskimos ran out from behind the ice-hummocks and joined their comrade. they were armed with long lances, the handles of which were made of bone, and the points of beautiful white ivory tipped with steel. it was afterwards discovered that these natives obtained small pieces of iron and steel from the eskimos further south, who were in the habit of trading at the settlements on the coast of greenland.
the strangers at once ran to the edge of the pool and gave the bull walrus two deep wounds with their lances. they also wounded the female. this seemed to render them more furious than ever. they dived again. the first eskimo again shifted his position, and the others ran back a short distance. they were not a moment too soon in these changes, for the ice was again burst upward at the spot they had just quitted, and the enraged beasts once more came bellowing to the surface and vented their fury on the ice.
it may seem almost incredible to the reader, but it is a fact, that this battle lasted fully four hours. at the end of the third hour it seemed to the sailors who were watching it, that the result was still doubtful, for the eskimos were evidently becoming tired, while the monsters of the polar seas were still furious.
“i think we might help them with a butlet,” whispered baker. “it might frighten them, perhaps, but it would save them a good deal of trouble.”
“wait a little longer,” replied gregory. “i have it in my mind to astonish them. you see they have wounded the female very badly, but when the male dies, which he cannot now be long of doing, she will dive and make off, and so they’ll lose her, for they don’t seem to have another harpoon and line.”
“perhaps they have one behind the hummocks,” suggested davy butts, whose teeth were chattering in his head with cold.
“if they had they would have used it long ago,” said gregory. “at any rate i mean to carry out my plan—which is this. when the bull is about dead i will fire at the female and try to hit her in a deadly part, so as to kill her at once. then, sam, you will run out with our harpoon and dart into her to prevent her sinking, or diving if she should not be killed. and you, davy, will follow me and be ready with a musket.”
this plan had just been settled when the bull walrus began to show signs of approaching death. gregory therefore took a deliberate aim with the rifle and fired. the result was startling! the female walrus began to roll and lash about furiously, smashing the ice and covering the sea around with bloody foam. at first the eskimos stood motionless—rooted to the spot, as if they had been thunderstruck. but when they saw sam baker dart from behind the hummock, flourishing his harpoon, followed by gregory and butts, their courage deserted them; they turned in terror and fled.
on getting behind the hummocks, however, they halted and peeped over the ledges of ice to see what the seamen did.
sam baker, being an old whaleman, darted his harpoon cleverly, and held fast the struggling animal. at the same time davy butts seized the end of the line which the natives had thrown down in terror, and held on to the bull. it was almost dead, and quite unable to show any more fight. seeing that all was right, gregory now laid down his rifle and advanced slowly to the hummock, behind which the eskimos had taken refuge.
he knew, from the reports of previous travellers, that holding up both arms is a sign of peace with the eskimos. he therefore stopped when within a short distance of the hummocks and held up his arms. the signal was understood at once. the natives leaped upon the top of the hummock and held up their arms in reply. again gregory tossed up his, and made signs to them to draw near. this they did without hesitation, and the doctor shook them by the hand and patted their hairy shoulders. they were all of them stout, well-made fellows, about five feet seven or eight inches high, and very broad across the shoulders. they were fat, too, and oily-faced, jolly-looking men. they smiled and talked to each other for a few moments and then spoke to gregory, but when he shook his head, as much as to say, “i don’t understand you,” they burst into a loud laugh. then they suddenly became grave, and ran at full speed toward the hole where the walrus floated.
davy butts made the usual sign of friendship and handed them the end of their line, which they seized, and set about securing their prize without taking any farther notice of their new friends.
the manner in which these wild yet good-natured fellows hauled the enormous carcass out of the water was simple and ingenious. they made four cuts in the neck, about two inches apart from each other, and raised the skin between these cuts, thus making two bands. through one of these bands they passed a line, and carried it to a stick made fast in the ice, where they passed it through a loop of well-greased hide. it was then carried back to the animal, made to pass under the second band, and the end was hauled in by the eskimos. this formed a sort of double purchase, that enabled them to pull out of the hole a carcass which double their numbers could not have hauled up.
some idea of the bull’s weight may be formed when i say that the carcass was eighteen feet long and eleven feet in circumference at the thickest part. there were no fewer than sixty deep lance-wounds in various parts of its body.
when seen close at hand the walrus is a very ugly monster. it is something like a gigantic seal, having two large flippers, or fins, near its shoulders, and two others behind, that look like its tail. it uses these in swimming, but can also use them on land, so as to crawl, or rather to bounce forward in a clumsy fashion. by means of its fore-flippers it can raise itself high out of the water, and get upon the ice and rocks. it is fond of doing this, and is often found sleeping in the sunshine on the ice and on rocks. it has even been known to scramble up the side of an island to a height of a hundred feet, and there lie basking in the sun.
nevertheless, the water is the proper element of the walrus. all its motions are clumsy and slow until it gets into the sea; there it is “at home.” its upper face has a square, bluff look, and its broad muzzle and cheeks are covered by a coarse beard of bristles, like quills. the two white tusks point downward. in this they are unlike to those of the elephant. the tusks of the bull killed on this occasion were thirty inches long. the hide of the walrus is nearly an inch thick, and is covered with close, short hair. beneath the skin he has a thick layer of fat, and this enables him to resist the extreme cold in the midst of which he dwells.
the walrus is of great value to the eskimos. but for it and the seal these poor members of the human family could not exist at all in those frozen regions. as it is, it costs them a severe struggle to keep the life in their bodies. but they do not complain of what seems to us a hard lot. they have been born to it. they know no happier condition of life. they wish for no better home, and the all-wise creator has fitted them admirably, both in mind and body, to live and even to enjoy life in a region where most other men could live only in great discomfort, if they could exist at all.
the eskimos cut the walrus’ thick hide into long lines with which they hunt—as we have seen. they do not cut these lines in strips and join them in many places; but, beginning at one end of the skin, they cut round and round without break to the centre, and thus secure a line of many fathoms in length.
it is truly said that “necessity is the mother of invention.” these natives have no wood. not a single tree grows in the whole land of which i am writing. there are plenty of plants, grasses, mosses, and beautiful flowers in summer—growing, too, close beside ice-fields that remain unmelted all the year round. but there is not a tree large enough to make a harpoon of. consequently the eskimos are obliged to make sledges of bones; and as the bones and tusks of the walrus are not big enough for this purpose, they tie and piece them together in a remarkably neat and ingenious manner.
sometimes, indeed, they find pieces of drift-wood in the sea. wrecks of whale-ships, too, are occasionally found by the natives in the south of greenland. a few pieces of the precious wood obtained in this way are exchanged from one tribe to another, and so find their way north. but the further north we go the fewer pieces of this kind of wood do we find; and in the far north, where our adventurous voyagers were now ice-bound, the eskimos have very little wood, indeed.
food is the chief object which the eskimo has in view when he goes out to do battle with the walrus. its flesh is somewhat coarse, no doubt, but it is excellent, nourishing food notwithstanding, and although a well-fed englishman might turn up his nose at it, many starving englishmen have smacked their lips over walrus-beef in days gone by—aye, and have eaten it raw, too, with much delight!
let not my reader doubt the truth of this. well-known and truth-loving men have dwelt for a time in those regions, and some of these have said that they actually came to prefer the walrus flesh raw, because it was more strengthening, and fitted them better for undertaking long and trying journeys in extremely cold weather. one of the most gallant men who ever went to the polar seas, (dr kane, of the american navy), tells us, in his delightful book, “arctic explorations”, that he frequently ate raw flesh and liked it, and that the eskimos often eat it raw. in fact, they are not particular. they will eat it cooked or raw—just as happens to be most convenient for them.
when the animals, whose killing i have described, were secured, the eskimos proceeded to skin and cut them up. the sailors, of course, assisted, and learned a lesson. while this was going on one of their number went away for a short time, and soon returned with a sledge drawn by about a dozen dogs. this they loaded with the meat and hide of the bull, intending evidently to leave the cow to their new friends, as being their property. but gregory thought they were entitled to a share of it, so, after loading his sledge with a considerable portion of the meat, he gave them the remainder along with the hide.
this pleased them mightily, and caused them to talk much, though to little purpose. however, gregory made good use of the language of signs. he also delighted them with the gift of a brass ring, an old knife, and a broken pencil-case, and made them understand that his abode was not far distant, by drawing the figure of a walrus in a hole in the snow, and then a thing like a bee-hive at some distance from it, pointing northward at the same time. he struck a harpoon into the outline of the walrus, to show that it was the animal that had just been killed, and then went and lay down in the picture of the bee-hive, to show that he dwelt there.
the natives understood this quite well. they immediately drew another bee-hive, pointed to the south and to the sun, and held up five fingers. from this it was understood that their village was five days distant from the spot where they then were.
he next endeavored to purchase three of their dogs, but they objected to this, and refused to accept of three knives as a price for them. they were tempted, however, by the offer of a whale harpoon and a hemp line, and at last agreed to let him have three of their best dogs. this the young doctor considered a piece of great good fortune, and being afraid that they would repent, he prepared to leave the place at once. the dogs were fastened by lines to the sledge of their new masters. a whip was made out of a strip of walrus hide, a bone served for a handle, and away they went for the brig at a rattling pace, after bidding the natives farewell, and making them understand that they hoped to meet again in the course of the winter.
thus happily ended their first meeting with the eskimos. it may well be believed that there were both astonishment and satisfaction on board the hope that night, when the hunting party returned, much sooner than had been expected, with the whip cracking, the men cheering, the dogs howling, and the sledge well laden with fresh meat.
