I have seen so much of it in the past that my first vivid impression is somewhat blunted.

I have therefore asked George Borup to write for me an account of walrus-hunting, as it appears to a novice, and his story is so vivid that I give it to the reader in his own words, graphic with the keen impressions of a young man and picturesque with college slang.

He says: "Walrus-hunting is the best sport in the shooting line that I know.
There is something doing when you tackle a herd of fifty-odd, weighing between one and two tons each, that go for you whether wounded or not; that can punch a hole through eight inches of young ice; that try to climb into the boat to get at or upset you,--we never could make out which, and didn't care, as the result to us would have been the same,--or else try to ram your boat and stave holes in it.
"Get in a mix-up with a herd, when every man in the whale-boat is standing by to repel boarders, hitting them over the head with oars, boat-hooks, axes, and yelling like a cheering section at a football game to try to scare them off; with the rifles going like young Gatling guns, and the walruses bellowing from pain and anger, coming to the surface with mad rushes, sending the water up in the air till you would think a flock of geysers was turned loose in your immediate vicinity--oh, it's great! "When we were walrus-hunting, the _Roosevelt_ would steam along, with all hands on the watch.

Then suddenly a keen-eyed Eskimo would sing out, 'Awick soah!' or, possibly, 'Awick tedicksoah!' ('Walruses! A great many walruses!') "We would look to see if there were enough of the animals to make a raid worth while; then, if the prospect was satisfactory, the _Roosevelt_ would steam along to leeward, for if they smelled her smoke they would wake up and we would never see them again.
"Henson, MacMillan, and I used to take turns going after these brutes.
Four or five Eskimos, one sailor, and a whale-boat were assigned to each of us.

The boats were painted white to resemble pieces of ice, and the row-locks were muffled, that we might steal along as noiselessly as possible.
"As soon as we sighted a herd worthy of our lead, we would sing out to our men, 'Shake her up!' and they would all come on the jump.