PHOCA BARBATA. 63 



barbata), although it lacks the wild excitement of 

 the chase of the sea-horse, is a very delightful amuse- 

 ment. The great seal will never allow himself to 

 be "caught napping." I do not think I ever saw 

 a sleeping seal which did not, about once in every 

 three or four minutes, raise his head from the ice 

 and look uneasily around ; so that he can not be 

 harpooned in his sleep, like his more lethargic con- 

 gener the walrus. I imagine this greater watch- 

 fulness on the part of the seals to arise from the 

 greater cause they have to apprehend being " stalk- 

 ed" by the bears while taking their siesta ; howev- 

 er this may be, recourse must be had to the rifle be- 

 fore the harpoon comes into play in the case of 

 Phoca barbata, and to make good work with them 

 requires the perfection of rifle-practice, for if a seal 

 be not shot stone dead on the ice, he is almost cer- 

 tain to roll or jerk himself into the water, and sink 

 or escape ; and as a seal never lies more than twelve 

 inches from the edge of the ice, the most trifling 

 spark of life is enough. The only part of the huge 

 carcass in which a bullet will cause the requisite 

 amount of "sudden death" is the brain, and this, 

 in the biggest seal, is not larger than an orange. 

 A seal will seldom allow the boat to approach 

 nearer than fifty or sixty yards, and a large propor- 

 tion take the alarm much sooner. Every rifle vol- 

 unteer and every gunmakers apprentice who reads 

 this will probably exclaim, " Oh, there is no diffi* 

 culty in that; I can hit an orange every shot at 



