WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



through his brain. He instantly sank without a struggle, 

 and a perfect torrent of blood came up, making the water 

 red for some feet round the spot where he lay stretched 

 out at the bottom. The men immediately rowed up, and 

 taking me into the boat, we managed to bring him up with 

 a boathook to the surface of the water, and then, as he was 

 too heavy to lift into the boat (his weight being 378 lbs.) 

 we put a rope round his flippers, and towed him ashore. A 

 seal of this size is worth some money, as, independently of 

 the value of his skin, the blubber (which lies under the skin, 

 like that of a whale) produces a large quantity of excellent 

 oil. This seal had been for several years the dread of the 

 fishermen at the stake-nets, and the head man at the place 

 was profuse in his thanks for the destruction of a beast up- 

 on whom he had expended a most amazing quantity of 

 lead. He assured me that 100/. would not repay the dam- 

 age the animal had done. Scarcely any two seals are ex- 

 actly of the same colour or marked quite alike, and seals, 

 frequenting a particular part of the coast, become easily 

 known and distinguished from each other. 



There is a certain part of the coast near the sand-hills 

 where I can generally get a shot at a seal. 1 have frequent- 

 ly killed them, but seldom get the animal, as the water is 

 deep at the place and the current strong. The spot I allude 

 to is where the sea, at the rise of the tide, flows into a large 

 basin through a narrow channel, the deep part of which is 

 not much more than a hundred yards in width. If there are 

 any seals hunting this part of the coast, they come into this 

 basin at every tide in search offish, or to rest in the quiet 

 water. My plan is to be at the place before the tide has be- 



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