THE SEAL. 



Seal Hunting, in Scotland. 



In Scotland, Seal hunting is followed for pleasure as well as profit. From the interesting account 

 of a gentleman who spent a day in the sport, we give a" few extracts, showing the mode in which it is 

 practised: — "One fine October morning," he writes, " I accompanied a military friend in. quest of the 

 Seals. We embarked in a boat from Mull. The major's body-servant carried two double-barrelled rifles, 

 and had brought an oblong wooden box, fitted "with a square piece of glass at one end, to be employed in 

 searching below the surface of the water for any dead Seals that might be lost. The boat was manned, by 

 four stout Highlanders, who rowed us among certain small rocky islands with which the sea in that part is 

 studded. In a nook of one of these islands we put the boat, and leaving the crew, with an injunction to 

 remain perfectly still, ascended the craggy side of the land ; behind a fragment of rock the keen sportsman 

 crouched with rifle cocked, his eye ranging over the expanse, his whole figure and expression of counte- 

 nance denoting eagerness mingled with caution. There was a long silence of expectation, and the whole 

 scene, as I lay watching the surface of the water, struck me as one of the wildest and most interesting that 

 I ever witnessed. The sea was calm as a lake, the sun shining full upon it; lofty ridges of heather-covered 

 hills, now glowing with warm light, and then subdued by passing shadows, formed a romantic background. 

 The shores were lined by steep cliffs and reefs of jagged rocks, jutting out far into the sea, and the islands 

 before-mentioned, on one of which I was seated, varied the scene still more with color and picturesque 

 forms. The Seal in such a calm scene ventures from the ocean-depths to inhale the air, and seeing no 

 object to alarm, sports above the wave, or swims to and fro like a dog, occasionally landing on pieces of 

 rock, and basking at his ease. Several of these singular animals soon showed their heads above the water, 

 the sportsman waiting until they approached within shot. It is very difficult to hit them in this way, but 

 I have seen experienced marksmen kill them from the boat at the extreme limit of a rifle's power. At one 

 hundred yards they are frequently killed." 



The tenacity of life displayed by the Seal has often been noticed as being very wonderful. Yet it is a 

 singular fact, that a slight blow over the nose puts an immediate end to the animal, when a rifle ball, in 



some apparently vital part of the body, has failed to kill it. 



,-- t 9* 



