86 THE SALMON 



line fairly whizzed through the water as he dashed to 

 the opposite side. It was a sharp and exciting 

 contest, but too sharp to last long, and before many 

 minutes he was visibly tiring, and his runs became 

 shorter and slower, and he yielded to pressure. As 

 he came near the top the fisherman and I both noted 

 with some surprise that there was a mark on his side ; 

 and when he also was duly netted, and had received 

 the coup de grace with a stone, the cause was apparent 

 in a large still bleeding scar on both sides immediately 

 above the belly. At first I thought that some 

 poacher had endeavoured to sniggle him with a triangle 

 and that he had broken away ; but on investigation it 

 was plain that the wound was not due to human 

 agency, as the marks of teeth were clearly visible. 

 He had indeed had a narrow escape for his life, as 

 the seal had gripped him right across the middle, but 

 he had escaped his voracious foe to fall a victim to a 

 human enemy before many hours had passed. He 

 was indeed a magnificent specimen, in perfect con- 

 dition, and I herewith give his portrait, roughly but 

 accurately drawn to scale, showing the marks of the 

 seal bite as a further example of the insensibility to 

 pain before referred to. The scars on the right side 

 extended four and a half inches in width along the body, 

 and to a height of two and three-quarter inches from 



