MANY SEALS SHOT. Ill 



and the ice perfectly smooth and level, its appear- 

 ance was most beautiful. It was covered with 

 snow of dazzling whiteness, showing off to great 

 advantage some hundreds of minute black dots, 

 which possessed incomparably greater charms for 

 my bloodthirsty boat's crew than either scenery or 

 geology ; for, by the aid of our telescopes, we soon 

 made them out to be seals, and as the men said 

 that they thought this high part of the bay had not 

 been previously hunted this summer, we anticipated 

 a brilliant day's sport. 



There were seven or eight huge fellows all lying 

 close to the outer edge of the ice, and we first open- 

 ed approaches in form against them. They were 

 very shy, and would not allow the boat to come 

 within shot; but no sooner had they dived into 

 the sea than their unfortunate habit of curiosity 

 got the better of them, and every one of them came 

 close around the boat, popping up their heads like 

 "Jacks-in-the-box," and flourishing their heels in 

 the air contemptuously as they dived again. I never 

 enjoyed more exciting sport than I had for a couple 

 of hours or so, for as fast as I could load and fire 

 there was a great round bullet-head standing like 

 a target in the water ready for me, and as the sea 

 was calm nearly every shot was successful. With- 

 out the boat going 100 yards from the spot, I shot 

 dead fifteen seals of the very largest size; but, al- 

 though I took the utmost pains not to fire until 

 the boat's head was directed straight toward the 



