SEAL-CATCHING. ]23 



with slow and stealthy step until the seal, which is a 

 particularly wary creature, manifests signs of perception 

 and alarm ; when the hunter, watchful as his quarry, 

 sinks by almost imperceptible degrees down upon the 

 ice, and remains there motionless until sm-prise has 

 subsided, and the seal once more disposes itself to 

 sleep, but he must now no longer remain erect and 

 undisguised, nor may his procession be continuous. 

 Crouching low upon the snow, he imitates with 

 amazing fidelity the actions of the seal itself, and 

 drags himself by slow and tortuous advances towards 

 the hole : his vigilance must now be unwearied and 

 unerring ; the slightest false movement, an instant's 

 motion when the seal is looking, and plunge goes his 

 prey into the water, rendering aU his care and labour 

 fruitless, for there is no chance of a reappearance that 

 day ; and when one seal goes in a hurry, the rest never 

 wait long behind, shuffling and scurrying along the ice 

 in the most ludicrous manner ; so that all chance of 

 sport is lost. Of this catastrophe the danger of com'se 

 increases as the distance lessens, and the wariness of 

 skilful hunters is then truly wonderful. The grand 

 aim is to get between the seal and its hole, in which 

 case captm-e may be considered pretty certain, but if 

 this cannot be accomplished, the chasseur must 

 endeavour to crawl right up to the animal unawares 



