IN THE SHETLANDS 329 
but he is certainly not the common one, for besides 
the pronounced difference in the shape of the head 
and face, colour and appearance of the fur, etc., he 
is much larger, the great barrel of the body being, 
perhaps, twice the size. The figure, too, though 
less human, is more buoy-like, increasing more 
rapidly, though very smoothly, from behind the 
head and below the chin, and tapering more abruptly 
towards the tail. The fur may have some markings 
upon it, but, if so, they are so faint as to give it the 
appearance of being of one uniform colour—a light, 
browny silver. When wet it becomes bluish, and 
how smooth it then lies may be judged by my having 
mistaken it, up to the present, for the naked skin. 
True, I know of no seal that has a naked skin; but 
when in the open, with my notebook, I like to forget 
what I know, and make my own discoveries. 
I watched this great seal for some ten minutes 
or so, as he lay in indolent repose, throwing his 
head, every now and again, over his great, swelling 
shoulder, till at length the elevatory power of the 
sea became too much, even for his proportions, and 
after rolling lazily about for a little, half moved by, 
half helping the waves to move him, he at length 
heaved himself around, and with a vasty, whale- 
resembling motion, plunged and disappeared beneath 
the deeply submerged edge of the rock-mass on 
which he had been lying. 
In the adjoining little twin cove, or pool, the usual 
complement of seals lay on the great slanting slab 
