86 AUTUMNS IN AKGYLESHIRE 



and he is well pleased to do it, as the flesh 

 and blubber become his perquisite. I should 

 not care to eat seal myself, but Esquimaux like 

 it, and Macallum and Sandy assure me it is 

 very like veal. 



We dredge with varied success while the 

 skinning is going on, and then, as a light 

 breeze springs up, for once from the right 

 quarter, we return home under sail. Behind 

 us, as we turn into Loch Crinan, the sky over 

 the whirlpool between Jura and Scarba is 

 flooded with molten gold and purple, and the 

 sun has sunk behind the islands before our 

 party lands, after a day for ever to be marked 

 with a white stone. 



