METHODS OF CAPTURE SEAL-HOOK; " SKRACKTA". 529 



weed, and when, therefore, the seal, tired of contending with 

 the waves, seeks in all innocence to rest its wearied limbs on 

 what it takes to be a rock, the trap-door swings on its axle, and 

 the yawning gulf beneath presently receives the poor animal ; 

 and as the aperture through which it falls is at once closed again, 

 the trap is in readiness to receive others of its comrades who 

 may allow themselves to be similarly beguiled." * 



4. The Seal-Hook. In certain parts of the Norwegian coast, 

 and probably elsewhere in Scandinavia, the writer last quoted 

 tells us that Seals are captured by means of barbed hooks, and 

 he depicts the manner of their use. The hooks, he says, quot- 

 ing from Rosted, should be made of tough iron or steel of at 

 least the thickness of one's finger, with shanks some eighteen 

 inches in length. These are fastened by a half-hitch to a strong 

 horse-hair or hempen line, which is stretched completely around 

 the base of a "Skal-Sten" or Seal Eock, to which its ends are 

 firmly attached. The hooks are set at low water, and in mod- 

 erate weather, for in stormy weather the Seals do not usually 

 repair to the rock. At half-ebb of the following tide the rock 

 should be reconnoitered with a telescope. " If any of these ani- 

 mals are then observed to be lying on it, a blank shot (when 

 the boat has approached sufficiently near) should be discharged, 

 which will at once arouse them from their slumbers, and cause 

 them to plunge headlong into the sea, in their progress to 

 which one or more of the company are commonly * brought up 

 by the run'; for though, when "ascending the <Skal- Sten,' they 

 are not in the slightest degree impeded by the hooks, which point 

 upwards, and are, moreover, slightly covered with sea-weed, 

 yet in their passage to the water they can hardly pass them 

 unscathed."! 



5. The "Skrackta". Mr. Lloyd also describes and figures an- 

 other ingenious implement adopted in Scandinavia for the de- 

 struction of Seals. This consists of a harpooo enclosed in a tube. 

 The tube is made of thick sheet-iron, two feet long and two and 

 a half inches in diameter, with two fixed heads, one at the lower 

 and the other near the upper end. At the bottom is fixed a 

 strong spiral spring, which propels the harpoon, and at the 

 upper end is a projecting trigger, pressure against which serves 

 to discharge the harpoon. Several of these destructive imple- 

 ments are inserted, by the aid of an auger, in a "Skal-Steii" 



* Game Birds and Wild Fowl, etc., pp. 425, 426. 

 tlbid., pp. 426, 427. 



Misc. Pub. No. 12 34 



