THE GREAT GREY SEAL 37 



there on the upper beach, far from the water, in the 

 full blaze of the sun, as dry and as " fluffy " as a well- 

 dressed robe of Polar bear's skin. We were indeed well 

 rewarded for our excursion in search of the seal's cave 

 of Pentargon Cove ! For this was a new-born pup of 

 the Great Grey Seal, entirely unconnected with the 

 inferior population of the inaccessible cave, laid here 

 in the open by his mother at birth (as is the habit of 

 her species), little suspecting that the long-secluded 

 shore of Pentargon Cove had that year been rendered 

 accessible to marauding land-beasts for the first time. 

 Not knowing the peculiarities of the grey seal and the 

 refusal of its young to enter the water until six weeks 

 after birth, when it sheds its coat of long white hair, 

 we cautiously rolled the little seal on to my outspread 

 coat and carried him to the water's edge. After the 

 hissing with which he had greeted my first approach 

 he was not unfriendly or alarmed, and for my part I 

 must say that I have never yet stumbled upon any free 

 gift of Nature which excited my admiration and regard 

 in an equal degree. His eyes were beautiful beyond 

 compare. We placed him close to the water and 

 expected him to wriggle into it and swim off, but, on 

 the contrary, he wriggled in the opposite direction, and 

 slowly made his way, by successive heaves,. up the beach. 

 He was not more than a day or two old, as was shown 

 by the unshrunken condition of the umbilical cord. We 

 did not like to leave him exposed to the attacks of 

 vagrant boys, who might climb down into the cove, so 

 we carried him on my coat to the shelter of some large 

 rocks, a hundred yards along the shore. There, with 

 much regret, we left him. 



But on the following evening, as we sat down to 

 dinner, I heard from some other visitors at the Wellington 



O 



