IN THE SHETLANDS 335 
generations in whom it was a virtue—is so strong that 
those—and there are many—in whom it is not de- 
veloped, should not judge those in whom it is, too 
harshly—indeed, not atall ; for how should one judge 
what one cannot feel? One can only hope that that 
dreadful way of being interested in animals which 
leads to their killing, and, ultimately, to their extinc- 
tion, will one day cease in man. Nor is the hope 
vain. It will cease. I know it will, and should be 
happy in the knowledge did I not also know that the 
animals will have ceased first. As it is, my only 
comfort is that I will have ceased before either. 
It is beautiful to see seals thus active under natural 
conditions. In spite of what they are and what one 
might expect them to do, one has to be surprised. 
Everything is increased beyond expectation ; they 
make a greater splashing, a greater noise in the water, 
produce more foam, give more elastic leaps, make 
swifter progress, than your imagination had supposed 
them capable of. They are creatures of the waves, 
you know, modified, adapted, made like unto fishes, 
and strong, as all animals are. Therefore, though 
you may have hitherto seen them only in their languid 
moods—and till now, in fact, there has been nothing 
very violent—yet you might have imagined, and you 
have tried to imagine, what they cou/d be when moved, 
roused, excited, ‘“* perplexed jn the: extreme.” Yes, 
you have tried—but ineffectually. Nature, you find, 
as ever, emporter’s it sur vous. Sur mot, 1 should rather 
say, perhaps, since there are certain lofty spirits to 
