The Lemming (Cuniculus torquatus) is a queer typical little arctic animal. It has a chubby build, a rudimentary tail, and no external ears. The first toe of the forepaw is almost nil, but the third and fourth have very strong claws, which grow longer and still more powerful in winter. It is grey in summer and white for the rest of the year. It lives upon the grubs to be found amid the moss under the snow, and burrows its way along as it searches for food. It is quite a familiar sound to hear the scratch, scratch, scratch of a lemming’s claws beneath, as one lies on the snow sleeping bench of an Eskimo’s igloo. The creature’s skin when dried is used by the natives for sticking over cuts or boils. It is hunted in the spring by the [[54]]women and children, who are guided by the sound of its burrowings. They arm themselves with a stick having a long barbed wire attached, and spear the animal with this through the snow.
Around the coasts there are various species of whales. The Grampus (Orca gladiator) or killer, as it is called by the whalers, is a fierce member of the dolphin group, sometimes attaining a length of thirty feet, with large powerful teeth, from ten to thirteen in number, on each side of the jaw. It has a high, upstanding fin on the back, like a shark. It is very swift in the water and can easily overtake and kill one of these latter creature. It is shunned and feared by all the denizens of the arctic seas except the Walrus and the great Sperm Whale. The Grampus is incredibly voracious, and has been known to devour thirteen porpoises and fourteen seals at one meal.
All the smaller animals take refuge in shallow water inshore at the approach of a Killer, only to fall a prey there to the native. The Killers hunt the whalebone whale, which, fast though it is, cannot make good its escape. The pursuers will leap right out of the water and crash down upon the head of their victim; or rush upon it and ram it, until terrified, stunned and exhausted, the whale drops its jaw, when the Killers tear out huge pieces of the tongue. (The tongue of a whale is a vast mass of fat, weighing in a full sized animal as much as a ton.) Finally, the unwieldly carcase is also despatched, and the Grampuses take themselves off, replete. The male Walrus [[55]]is too active and fierce to be beset in this manner, but a female encumbered with a calf will often be pursued by the Killer. She takes the young one under her flipper and tries to escape; but the aggressor rushes in and butts at her. Sometimes he succeeds in claiming this tender mouthful; sometimes he is killed by the infuriated mother.
The Sea Unicorn or Narwhal (Monodon monoceros), is a purely arctic animal. The curious “horn” is really the left tooth grown to the length of six or seven feet. It is only hollow for a certain distance. Exteriorly this horn is spirally grooved, to allow presumably for quick thrust and withdrawal. The Narwhal often engage in a mock combat among themselves with these horns, but use them with fierce and deadly precision when engaged in actual warfare.
It were too long to linger here with the creatures of the North, since we shall meet them all, and many more, in dealing with the human inhabitants of the country. Arctic animals have a fascination all their own, and of late years a wonderfully sympathetic and intuitive literature has grown up having them almost exclusively for its protagonists. Jack London has endeared the powerful, savage, husky dog to us for all time, in his “White Fang.” [[56]]
[1] Occasionally the black fox is taken, and the fortunate hunter may receive as much as the equivalent of $100 to $500 for a pair of fine skins, from the Agent. [↑]