TRICHECUS, the walrus; a genus of quadrupeds, belonging to the order of bruta. The characters are these. Two great tusks in the upper jaw, point-
Trichecus. pointing downwards: four grinders on both sides above and below: no cutting teeth: five palmated toes on each foot. There are two species.
1. The rosmarinus, morse, or sea-horse, has a round head; small mouth; very thick lips, covered above and below with pellucid bristles as thick as a straw; small fiery eyes; two small orifices instead of ears; short neck; body thick in the middle, tapering towards the tail; skin thick, wrinkled, with short brownish hairs thinly dispersed: legs short; five toes on each, all connected by webs, and small nails on each: the hind feet are very broad; each leg loosely articulated; the hind legs generally extended on a line with the body: the tail is very short; penis long: length of the animal, from nose to tail, sometimes eighteen feet, and ten or twelve round in the thickest part: the teeth have been sometimes found of the weight of 20 lb. each. Teeth of this size are only found on the coast of the Icy Sea, where the animals are seldom molested, and have time to attain their full growth.
They inhabit the coast of Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Hudson's Bay, and the gulph of St. Laurence; and the Icy Sea, as far as Cape Pechuktschi. They are gregarious; in some places appearing in herds of hundreds. They are shy animals, and avoid places which are much haunted by mankind; but are very fierce. If wounded in the water, they attempt to sink the boat, either by rising under it, or by striking their great teeth into the sides; they roar very loud, and will follow the boat till it gets out of sight. Numbers of them are often seen sleeping on an island of ice; if awoke, they fling themselves with great impetuosity into the sea; at which time it is dangerous to approach the ice, lest they should tumble into the boat and overset it. They do not go upon the land till the coast is clear of ice. At particular times, they land in amazing numbers: the moment the first gets on shore, so as to lie dry, it will not stir till another comes and forces it forward by beating it with its great teeth; this is served in the same manner by the next; and so in succession till the whole is landed, continuing tumbling over one another, and forcing the foremost, for the sake of quiet, to remove further up. The method of killing them on the Magdalene isles, in the gulph of St. Laurence, according to Mr. Pennant, is thus: The hunters watch their landing; and as soon as they find a sufficient number for what they call a cut, they go on shore, each armed with a spear sharp on one side like a knife, with which they cut their throats. Great care must be taken not to stand in the way of those which attempt to get again to sea, which they do with great agility by tumbling headlong; for they would crush any body to death by their vast weight. They are killed for the sake of their oil, one walrus producing about half a tun. The knowledge of this chace is of great antiquity; Oether the Norwegian, about the year 890, made a report of it to king Alfred, having, as he says, made the voyage beyond Norway, for the more commoditie of fishing of horse-whales, which have in their teeth bones of great price and excellency, whereof he brought some at his return unto the king. In fact, it was, in the northern world, in early times, the substitute to ivory, being very white and very hard. Their skins, Oether says, were good to cut into cables. M. de Buffon says, he
has seen braces for coaches made of the skin, which Trichecus were both strong and elastic.
They bring one, or at most two young at a time: they feed on sea herbs and fish; also on shells, which they dig out of the sand with their teeth: they are said also to make use of their teeth to ascend rocks or pieces of ice, fastening them to the cracks, and drawing their bodies up by that means. Besides mankind, they seem to have no other enemy than the white bear, with whom they have terrible combats; but generally come off victorious, by means of their great teeth.
2. The manatus, manati, or sea-cow. This animal, in nature, so nearly approaches the cetaceous tribe, that it scarce deserves the name of a biped: what are called feet are little more than pectoral fins; they serve only for swimming: they are never used to assist the animal in walking or landing; for it never goes ashore, nor ever attempts to climb the rocks, like the sea-horse and seal. It brings forth in the water, and like the whale, suckles its young in that element: like the whale, it has no voice; and like that animal, has an horizontal broad tail, without even the rudiments of hind feet. It inhabits the shores of Kamtschatka, those of the opposite coast of America, and of the intervening islands. It is found again on that of Mindanao, one of the Philippine islands, and on the coast of New Holland; on that of the isle of France, and on that of Senegal; on the Mosquito shore, in the river Oronoque, and the lakes formed by it; and lastly, in the river of Amazons; but in no other part of the Atlantic Ocean.
They live perpetually in the water, and frequent the edges of the shores; and in calm weather swim in great droves near the mouths of rivers: in the time of flood they come so near the land, that a person may stroke them with his hand: if hurt, they swim out to sea; but presently return again. They live in families, one near another; each consists of a male, a female, a half-grown young one, and a very small one. The females oblige the young to swim before them, while the other old ones surround and as it were guard them on all sides. The affection between the male and female is very great: for if she is attacked, he will defend her to the utmost; and if she is killed, will follow her corpse to the very shore, and swim for some days near the place it has been landed at. They copulate in the spring, in the same manner as the human kind, especially in calm weather, towards the evening. The female swims gently about; the male pursues; till tired with wantoning she flings herself on her back, and admits his embraces. Steller thinks they go with young about a year: it is certain that they bring but one young at a time, which they suckle by two teats placed between the breast. They are vastly voracious and gluttonous; and feed not only on the fuci that grow in the sea, but such as are flung on the edges of the shore. When they are filled, they fall asleep on their backs. During their meals, they are so intent on their food, that any one may go among them and choose which he likes best. Peter Martyr gives an instance of one that lived in a lake of Hispaniola for 25 years, and was so tame as to come to the edge of the shore on being called; and would even perform the part of a ferry, and carry several people at a time on its back to the opposite shore.—Their back and their
Tricheus. their sides are generally above water; and as their skin is filled with a species of loose peculiar to them, numbers of gulls are continually perching on their backs and picking out the insects.
They continue in the Kamtschatkan and American seas the whole year; but in winter are very lean, so that you may count their ribs. They are taken by harpoons fastened to a strong cord; and after they are struck, it requires the united force of thirty men to draw them on shore. Sometimes when they are transfixed, they will lay hold of the rocks with their paws, and stick so fast as to leave the skin behind before they can be forced off. When a manat is struck, its companions swim to its assistance; some will attempt to overturn the boat by getting under it; others will press down the rope, in order to break it; and others will strike at the harpoon with their tails, with a view of getting it out, in which they often succeed. They have not any voice; but make a noise by hard breathing, like the snorting of a horse.
They are of an enormous size; some are 28 feet long, and 800 lb. in weight. Those of the West Indies and other hot climates do not exceed 1200 lb. in weight, and few arrive at that size. Probably they are not suffered to live their full time in those countries, being perpetually persecuted by the Mosquito and other Indians, who are very dexterous in striking them. The head, in proportion to the bulk of the animal, is small, oblong, and almost square: the nostrils are filled with short bristles: the gape, or rictus, is small: the lips are double: near the junction of the two jaws the mouth is full of white tubular bristles, which serve the same use as the laminae in whales, to prevent the food running out with the water: the lips are also full of bristles, which serve instead of teeth to cut the strong roots of the sea-plants, which floating ashore are a sign of the vicinity of these animals. In the mouth are no teeth, only two flat white bones, one in each jaw; one above, another below, with undulated surfaces, which serve instead of grinders.
The eyes are extremely small, not larger than those of a sheep: the iris is black. The animal is destitute of ears, having only two orifices, so small that a quill will scarcely enter them: the tongue is pointed, and but small: the neck is thick, and its junction with the head scarcely distinguishable; and the last always hangs down: the circumference of the body near the shoulders is twelve feet, about the belly twenty, near the tail only four feet eight; the head thirty-one inches the neck near seven feet; and from these measurements may be collected the deformity of this animal. Near the shoulders are two feet, or rather fins, which are only two feet two inches long, and have neither fingers nor nails; beneath they are concave, and covered with hard bristles: the tail is thick, strong, and horizontal, ending in a stiff black fin, and like the substance of whalebone, and much split in the fore-part; the end slightly divided. The females have, between the pectoral fins, two large round and fair breasts; and both sexes have the parts of generation, and the navel, perfectly resembling those of the human species: there is no doubt, Mr Pennant thinks, but all the fables concerning mermaids, mermen, and sirens, took their rise from an imperfect view of this animal.
The skin is very thick, black, and full of inequalities, like the bark of oak, and so hard as scarce to be cut with an ax, and has no hair on it: beneath the skin is a thick blubber, which tastes like oil of almonds. The flesh is coarser than beef, and will not soon putrify. The young ones taste like veal. The skin is used for shoes, and for covering the sides of boats.