THE HERDS OF PROTEUS 73 



bow-windows, and the even more ample propor- 

 tions of their wives, from shippers in Argyleshire ; 

 and that all danger of a quarrel with America or 

 Russia over disputed rights to the seals at Alaska 

 would come to a natural end by the simple pro- 

 cess of the cessation of the demand for the foreign 

 article. Who knows whether, if that abortive 

 scheme had only become law, Reuben Paine and 

 Tom Hall, the heroes of Rudyard Kipling's 

 "Rhyme of the Three Sealers," might not have 

 been alive to this day ! I pricked my ears up at 

 once. I did not then know as much about gra- 

 dients, curves, and engineering difficulties as I 

 do now, but I did know something perhaps 

 more than any man in the room about the 

 natural history of the West Coast ; and I won- 

 dered how many truck-loads of seals were to be 

 brought up to London in the course of the year, 

 and, if any were brought, what in the world 

 would be done with them. Certainly a waistcoat 

 made of pelt of the British seal (Phoca vitulina) 

 would look more peculiar than becoming; and 

 although the fishermen and crofters are glad of 

 his blubber for lighting and other purposes, in 

 these days of gas and electric light it would 

 hardly pay to export it to the great metropolis. 



I need hardly point out to the intelligent 

 reader that seals, although they are to be found 

 in the West Highlands if you know where to look 

 for them, are not so common as the expert wit- 



