286 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



laid on our lands for manure at times ; fish, 

 indeed, were taken there in vast profusion ; 

 and I have seen at times a whale or a shark 

 get stranded in the shallows through rushing 

 them when following up the shoals. But the 

 seals never came to grief. Our old fishermen 

 seemed to think that there was something 

 half human, and altogether uncanny, in the 

 look of a large seal as he spins along with 

 his head and half his body out of the water. 

 When they saw one, they prophesied always, 

 in the most doleful fashion, that they were 

 "sartin sum orkard thing wud happen tu sum 

 o' the fishin' craft, or else tu the oyster grounds, 

 fur they'd sin close in-shore one o' them 'ere 

 outlandish seals." Even in the present day, 

 sea-dogs, as they are frequently called, are 

 looked upon with very little favour owing 

 to the sounds proceeding from them, which 

 reach the fishermen at night, sometimes when 

 they lie off the sand-bars, waiting for the 

 tide. 



What a mysterious sight to me, in my youth, 

 was that long, dark, oily roller, which I have 

 watched come out of the darkness, lit up 

 by phosphorescent flashes, as it raced towards 

 the shore ! The sea meanwhile was calm ; no 



