TONGUE FERRY SEALS. 53 



was to bring him across a part of the sands fordable at low 

 water. We then took the boat off the wheels, which we 

 managed to stow away in the small ferry-boat, and taking 

 our own boat in tow, we sailed across with a good breeze, 

 which carried us well over the bay. In one part the current 

 of the ebbing tide is very strong. 



While waiting for the horse's arrival, I amused myself by 

 watching through my glass the singular and awkward-looking 

 antics and gambols of a large herd of seals, who were playing 

 and resting upon a sand- bank in the middle of the bay. It 

 is curious to see with what activity these unwieldy-looking 

 fellows move themselves about on the sand, ill adapted as 

 they appear for locomotion on the land. The cry of the seal 

 is wild and mournful, difficult to describe, but something 

 between the mew of a cat and the howl of a dog ; a most 

 unpleasant sound it is, though it sometimes harmonizes 

 sufficiently well with the wild scenery surrounding them. 



Some thirty miles out at sea opposite this part of the coast 

 is an island, or range of rocks. Exposed to all the violence 

 of the breakers of the,Northern Sea, it is difficult to land on ; 

 but once or twice a year a crew of fishermen go off to it in a 

 strong boat, and usually manage to get about a hundred seals, 

 the oil and skins of which repay them well for their labour. 



Blue rock pigeons live in all the caves on this coast, and 

 are to be seen flitting to and fro from morning to night. 



For some distance after crossing the Tongue ferry the 

 road is dreary and bleak, passing over a brown and wet 

 tract of mossy ground, and for several miles we continued 

 ascending. The wind and rain were incessant and very 

 heavy. Having surmounted the highest ridge, we descended 

 the hill to the Hope River, which is crossed by what is called 

 a chain-boat ; that is, we drive upon a wooden platform with- 

 out taking the horse out of the carriage. The platform then, 

 with all upon it, is hauled across the river by means of a 

 chain and windless. The glen through which the river Hope 

 runs is very beautifully shut in by its wooded banks ; and 

 the grey mountains offering a new point of interest at every' 

 turn of the road, give never-ceasing pleasures and excitement. 

 Here we continually saw eagles and other rare birds. A 

 shepherd told us that the larnbs were killed every day by 

 eagles ; but he seemed to know little, and to care less, about 

 the breeding-place of the birds. It is nearly impossible to 

 get a direct or truthlike answer from many of the High- 



