Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/329

WALRUS many miracles. Though her feast properly falls on Feb. 25, the eve of May 1, associated with some of the most popular of the witch superstitions of Germany, is called Walpurgis' Night. On that night witches were believed to ride through the air on broomsticks, etc., to some witch hill where they held a rendezvous with the devil. Such meetings were called the "Witches Sabbaths." The most famous witch hill was the highest part of the Hartz Mountains, called the Brocken or Brocksberg. The Beltane or Beltain festival was observed in Scotland and Ireland on the same date.

WALRUS, in zoölogy, the Trichechus rosmarus, called also the morse, seahorse, and sea cow. The walrus is now confined to the regions within the Arctic Circle, though its extinct ancestors had a much wider geographical range. It is a large carnivorous marine mammal, ordinarily from 10 to 12 feet long, with a girth of nearly as much; it is said that it sometimes attains a length of 20 feet; muzzle abruptly truncated, with long and remarkably strong bristly moustaches; small eyes; external ear wanting, though the orifice is distinctly visible; body large and sack-like, tapering toward the tall; hind limbs short, connected by a membrane which covers the tail, fore limbs strong



and stumpy, all with five digits. The hide is of a tawny brown color, with difficulty penetrated by bullets, and has been likened to a tough, flexible coat of mail. The upper canines are developed in adults of both sexes into immense tusks, each from 15 inches to 2 feet long and weighing 10 pounds and upward. In some individuals the points converge toward, and in others they diverge from each other. The most important function of these tusks is digging shell fish, the favorite food of the walrus, out of the banks and mud of shoal water. They also raise the body out of the water, by digging into ice floes, which probably gave rise to the legend of the rosmarine; and they form terrible weapons of offense, as by a quick turn of the neck the animal can strike upward, downward, or sideways with equal dexterity. Walruses are gregarious, and are found on the seashore and on ice floes; some keep guard while those of the main body sleep, and when danger threatens the sentinels awaken the others by bellowing. They are said to be monogamous, and the female brings forth at nine months one calf, usually on the ice floes. In disposition they are quiet and inoffensive, unless attacked or during the love season, or if their young are in danger; when they become desperately aggressive, and furiously attack the hunters on the ice or in boats. The number of walrus, owing to reckless slaughter by sealers and whalers, are fast decreasing, and the few remaining seek unfrequented spots in high latitudes inaccessible to sealers. At one time there was a considerable trade in walrus hunting, but it is now at a very low ebb; the tusks alone have any commercial value at the present time; but formerly walrus hides were used for various purposes, such as machine bands, etc.

 WALSALL, a town of Staffordshire, England; 8 miles N. N. W. of Birmingham. It is situated on a small affluent of the Tame and has numerous public buildings. The special manufactures are saddlers' ironmongery and all kinds of leather goods (saddles, harness etc.), the "latter being largely exported. Walsall lies on the margin of the southern Staffordshire mineral field, and produces a great variety of hardware, small castings, gas tubes, chandeliers, iron bedsteads, silver and brass plating, etc. Coal and lime are wrought in the vicinity. Pop. about 95,000.

WALSH, DAVID IGNATIUS, an American lawyer and United States Senator, born at Leominster, Mass., in 1872. He was educated at Holy Cross College and at the Boston University Law School, and received honorary degrees from various Catholic colleges and universities. In 1897 he was admitted to the bar; from 1898 to 1900 he v/as moderator of the town meetings in Clinton, Mass.; from 1900 to 1901 a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives; in 1913 lieutenant-governor and in 1914-1915 governor of Massachusetts. In 1917 he was a member at large of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, and in 1918 he was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate for the term 1919 to 1925.

WALSH, ROBERT, an American author; born in Baltimore, Md., in 1784.