Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo13amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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40 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL repeating rifles creep up to a herd, then make a rush, firing right and left. This method is considered unsatisfactory, as many of the animals get away even if they are shot or plunge off into the open water where they sink. Should they be harpooned before sinking, they must be hauled back on the ice field again before they can be skinned, and considering the fact that one walrus weighs from fifteen hundred to six thousand pounds, getting it on the ice again is no small undertaking. After as many of a herd as possible have been killed, the walruses are placed in a row ready for skinning. The ivory tusks are removed and saved, also the tail and flippers, the latter when cooked being considered a delicacy by the natives. The hide is used for making boats, towlines, lashing for sleds and soles for boots. In Siberia it is used also for the roof and sides of the summer igloo. Both the hide and
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On receipt of the good news of a passing walrus herd on an ice floe, the men mount the boats on runners made of inflated sealskin pokes and push out over the ice into the water ivory are often exchanged to white traders for tobacco, coffee, tea, sugar, ammunition and guns, which the natives have learned to use and appreciate. Trading companies employ the natives to hunt for them, paying them with the tails, flippers and half of the ivory. Raw walrus hide brings ten cents per pound in the Pacific coast markets and is used in the manufacture of trunks, purses, suitcases and also in the making of buffing wheels used in the rough finish of cutlery. The ivory is worth from sixty-five cents to one dollar per pound. Both Siberia and the United States have laws which are supposed to protect the walrus, but these laws are of little value. They prohibit the killing of walrus within three miles of land while as a matter of fact, the animals are rarely or never found that close to land. Owing to the inadequacy of these laws and the almost universal use of modern firearms among both Eskimo and white hunters, extermination of the walrus will be accomplished in a few years unless steps are immediately taken for effective protection.

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