184 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



some Egyptian sphinx, its ears tensioned for the 

 slightest noise, watching the horizon with its 

 keen, intelligent eyes, ready to dive at the 

 slightest sign of danger, and you have a picture 

 of the most fascinating and absorbing of sports. 



At half-past ten I had been told that 

 another seal was in sight. Accompanied by 

 the doctor, I entered the boat and set our course 

 for it. The seal presented its back to us, and 

 we approached quite close. As soon as I 

 perceived that it was manifesting signs of 

 inquietude, the oars were shipped and the boat 

 permitted to drift onwards. At the moment 

 it turned its head towards us, I fired. The shot 

 smashed its skull and killed it instantly. Its 

 head, which had been raised, sank down, blood 

 streaming from its nostrils. This seal was also 

 a female, measuring about six feet. 



The night was so beautiful that I resolved not 

 to retire. Had I done so I could not have slept, 

 to such a degree had this sport bewitched me. 



At midnight I was writing, when one of 

 my men came to inform me that a barbata seal 

 had been seen away to the larboard on an 

 ice-field almost a mile long. Losing no time, 

 we got into the boat and rowed for the animal. 

 It dived, however, when we arrived in sight of 

 the spot where it lay. Several small foetida 



