No one on board having ever seen anything of the kind before, all were in a state of excitement, which soon became naturally diverted into ardour for conflict and capture. Measures were speedily concerted by which a due harvest might, if possible, be reaped out of this wonderfully stocked field. Muskets, evidently, could do little, as the vast herd, on being alarmed, would doubtless hurry into the sea, before the discharged arms could be reloaded, and harpoons could be of no avail. Lances and whale-knives, however, promised a better instrumentality, and especially one kind of the latter, the _tail-knife_, which in reality proved the most effective of all. This instrument, designed for making perforations in the tail and fins of the captured whale, when preparing to be towed to the ship, constitutes a portion of the furniture of every whale-boat, and consists of a nearly three-feet straight sharp-pointed blade, with a wooden handle of like measure. It resembles the blade of a cutlass, out of which weapon, indeed, this kind of knife is frequently constructed. From accounts which at different times I have received from individuals participating in the affair, I am enabled to offer such description of the plan and proceedings as may serve, I hope, to give a tolerably correct notion of this curious and novel kind of exploit. Well furnished with what appeared to be the best weapons for the attack, the boats set out on the adventure, spreading themselves, whilst at a distance, so as to make a simultaneous and warlike descent upon the beach. As this animal is but imperfectly adapted for locomotion on land, and its progress, usually, sluggish and slow, there was a chance with the individuals which had adventured highest up the slope of doing some considerable execution among them. Though the walrus, ordinarily, appears singularly fearless,—it might be said, stupidly fearless,—yet the whole herd, in this case, was soon put into a state of commotion and alarm. The principal attack on the flanks having arrested several of the number, the general mass began a scrambling retreat, assuming a strangely formidable, yet otherwise grotesque appearance, whilst, in their haste, the huge carcasses were seen, in their mutual interferences, rolling one over another down the beach.