PREPARATIONS FOR MULLET-FISHING. 67 



CHAPTER XI. 



EARLY this morning we received intelligence that a 

 school of mullet had been seen on the preceding evening, 

 working in a sandy bay some six miles distant from the 

 Lodge and as we determined to devote the day to 

 fishing, the household were soon up on the alert, and a 

 galley and row-boat were laden with nets, poles and 

 spars ; half-a-dozen rifles and muskets put on board, and 

 a stout and numerous crew, we started for the scene of 

 action. 



It was a bright and cheerful day ; the sun sparkled 

 on the blue water, which, unruffled by a breeze, rose and 

 fell in the long and gentle undulations which roll in from 

 the westward when the Atlantic is at rest. While 

 pulling to the cove, we amused ourselves in shooting 

 puffins as they passed us, or trying our rifles at a distant 

 seal, while my kinsman's anecdotes whiled away the 

 tedium of the voyage. 



" Seals are very numerous on the coast, and at this 

 season a number may be seen any warm day you make an 

 excursion up the Sound of Achil. We shoot them 

 occasionally the skin makes a waterproof covering, 

 and the fat affords an excellent oil for many domestic 

 purposes. It is difficult, however, to secure the animal, 

 for numbers are shot and few gotten. The head is the 

 only place to strike them, for even when mortally 

 wounded in the body, they generally manage to escape. 

 This fact we have ascertained, from finding them dead 

 on shore many days after they were wounded, and at a 

 considerable distance from the place where they had 



