ITS DESTRUCTIVE PROPERTIES. 423 



by the fumes of bones and other strong-scented sub- 

 stances, which are cast into the flames. At other times 

 Ktitar, or seal-cubs, are tied to a line within the net, the 

 cries of which often attract old ones. 



Though the " Stand-Nat " is most commonly used 

 during the summer months, recourse is had to it also 

 when the sea is frozen over. The manner in which it is 

 then set is similar to that described by me in "Northern 

 Sports," when speaking of the manner in which fish are 

 captured in Wermeland during the winter ; viz., small 

 circular holes at stated intervals are first cut in the ice, 

 and afterwards the hauling lines attached to the net are 

 passed, by means of long and forked poles, from the one 

 aperture to the other. 



The " Stand-Kilt " would appear to be a very destruc- 

 tive engine. We read of as many as fourteen seals having 

 been taken at a single " haul." It is chiefly the young- 

 ones, however, that are made prisoners. The old ones, 

 let the night be dark as pitch, would seem by scent or 

 otherwise to discern the toils ; and, even should they get 

 entangled in the meshes, their strength is such, especially 

 in the case of the Grey Seal, that it must be a very strong 

 net to retain them within its folds. Odtnan tells us, indeed, 

 that they at times carry away the net altogether. " A man 

 of my acquaintance," he goes on to say, " related to me 

 that he once captured an old seal with portions of ten 

 different nets attached to its body, which was, however, 

 finally secured in the eleventh. On flaying the animal, a 

 part of one of the nets was found to have grown into the 

 skin, and a considerable portion of the others were in a 

 state of decomposition." When within the folds of the net, 

 the struggles of the seal are most violent, and as it con- 

 stantly endeavours to " go ahead," never to retrace its 

 course, it soon becomes so entangled that the captor has 

 difficulty in disengaging it. What with the animal's great 



