54 SEAL-SHOOTING, 



" Seals are very numerous on the coast, and at this season 

 a number may be seen any warm day you make an excursion 

 up the sound of Achil. We shoot them occasionally the 

 skin makes a waterproof covering, and the fat affords an 

 excellent oil for many domestic purposes. It is difficult how- 

 ever, to secure the animal, for numbers are shot and few gotten. 

 The head is the only place to strike them, for even when 

 mortally wounded in the body, they generally manage to 

 escape. This fact we have ascertained, from finding them 

 dead on shore many days after they were wounded, and at a 

 considerable distance from the place where they had received 

 the bullet. I shot one last autumn at the mouth of the river, 

 and a fortnight afterwards he was taken up in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Dhuhill. There could be no doubt as to the 

 identity of the creature, for on opening him to extract the 

 oil, a rifle -ball, such as I use, of the unusually small size of 

 fifty -four to the pound, was found lodged in his lungs. 

 Unless when killed outright, they sink instantly ; and I have 

 seen the sea dyed with blood, to an extent that proved how 

 severely the seal had been wounded, but have never been 

 able to trace him further. 



" Formerly, when seal oil and skins were valuable, some 

 persons on the coast made the pursuit of the animal a pro- 

 fession. There is one of these persons living near the 

 Sound, a miserable dwarfish red-bearded wretch, whom you 

 would consider hardly equal to grapple with a salmon, and 

 yet he secures more seals than any hunter in the district. 

 His method of effecting it is singular : he uses neither gun 

 nor spear, but kills the animal with a short bludgeon loaded 

 at the end with lead. 



" Adjacent to the seal-killer's residence, there is a large 

 rock uncovered at half-tide, and this appears the most 

 favourite haunt for the animal to bask upon. The rock 

 is easily approached from the main-land, and on a sunny 

 day, when the wind favours the attempt, the hunter, un- 

 dressed, and armed with his bludgeon, silently winds among 

 the stones, and steals upon his sleeping prey. Wary as the 

 creature is, the Red Dwarf seldoms fails in surprising him, and 

 with astonishing expertness generally dispatches him with a 

 single blow. 



" The number he kills annually proves his extraordinary 

 success. If the first blow fails, an event that seldom happens* 



