419 



up to the l)east and seized it by the fore paw, with the inten- 

 tion of first turning it on its back and then hauling it into 

 the boat. In this matter, however, he calculated with- 

 out ' mine host,' for the Phoca, whose immobility had 

 simjily arisen from a deep slumber, but from which this 

 unceremonious treatment had aroused it, made so des- 

 perate a plunge downwards, as not only to free itself from 

 the imagined captor, but to deluge him and all his per- 

 tainings with water. The man was not a little crest- 

 fallen, whilst his vexation was the greater, because he at 

 the time had two loaded gun^ in the boat, and, had he 

 taken common precautions, he might not only have 

 avoided tlie mortification of being outwitted, but would 

 to a certainty have bagged the animal." 



The seal bites exceedingly hard, and unless you are 

 quite certain that life is extinct, great caution is needful 

 in handling it. Even when apparently defunct it jvill 

 at times revive and cause the hunter no little trouble. It 

 has not unfrequently happened that after having been 

 hauled into the boat it has offered so desperate a resist- 

 ance that its detention has become a very questionable 

 matter. A well-known seal-hunter on the western coast 

 of Sweden, named Jacob Johanson, a fine, determined 

 looking fellow, assured me, indeed, that on one occasion 

 he himself had a very severe hand-to-hand encounter 

 with a huge grey seal, and that it was onlj^ by having 

 recourse to his oicn teeth (his knife not being at hand at 

 the moment) that he was enabled to overcome and 

 retain the beast. 



Samuel Odman tells a somewhat similar story. "A 

 peasant in my neighbourhood had some years ago," he 

 says, " hauled a large wounded seal into his boat, but 

 after a time the animal came to itself, and commenced 

 attacking him. The man defended himself with the oars, 

 with which he dealt it many severe blows, though with so 



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