LETTER XXIII. 167 



its capture in the British Isles are extremely rare. I had never 

 before seen or even heard of one. It looks much larger than the 

 Common Seal, perhaps from its conspicuous colour against the 

 dark rocks ; the others look black at a distance. The Harp Seal 

 is all snowy white, except for a curious harp-shaped black spot 

 across the middle of its back. 



This is all I could remember, and devoutly did my congrega- 

 tion listen to me — the ancient keeper and the young officer. 

 Ardently did we long to strike the Harp with a conical bullet ; 

 but though I had my American rifle, what could one do at a 

 quarter of a mile without a boat on such a slippery subject as a 

 Seal ? So there we lay watching them for some three hours. 

 The atmosphere being pretty clear, we could, with the aid of a 

 good two-foot glass, make them out very distinctly. At last the 

 rising tide gradually submerged them, and eventually floated them 

 off, for they were too lazy to move themselves, and seemed to take 

 a luxurious delight in being gradually washed away. 



I noted down the remarks of my companions, who were quite 

 unaware of the existence of any such animal as the Harp Seal. 

 They were struck by its great size, its extreme whiteness, and the 

 black spot upon its shoulder and back. The Seals changed their 

 position more than once, and frequently turned their heads about ; 

 but it had no effect upon the colour of their hair. Of course 

 they were quite dry, as we had watched them three hours. 



The keeper acknowledged never having seen such a thing 

 before, though he was aware that the fishermen talked of a large 

 Seal, called by them Ta-beist 



I wrote an account of these Seals to the Field, which produced 



