86 SEAL -SHOOTING. 



brides these prodigious creatures are tame enough, 

 and roam along the shores, the tyrants of these 

 wild seas. I saw the skin of one, shot off the 

 Colonsay coast by a nephew of the Lord Justice- 

 General, which weighed 30 stone. It unexpectedly 

 elevated half its body out of water, close to the 

 young sportsman, when he shot it through the 

 lungs. 



One fine September day, when walking with a 

 friend on the south shore of Loch-na-Gaul, four- 

 teen Arctic seals came racing past close to land. 

 They jumped and gambolled over each other like 

 boys at leap-frog, making a splash in the sea that 

 gave notice of their advent a good way off. After 

 coursing some distance in this boisterous style 

 they settled on a rock, and by stalking we got 

 within rifle-range ; but not having a rifle, we were 

 fain to content ourselves with a survey through 

 the telescope the first and last I ever had of 

 these rare visitors from the Polar seas. 



Even a quick eye requires practice ere it be- 

 comes expert at distinguishing basking seals on 

 the rocks. They are so like tufts of seaware or 

 detached stones, both in shape and colour, that the 



