96 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLESHIRE 



favourable, and with my face bent almost to 

 the level of the calm water I succeed in 

 wading across without mishap, and sliding my 

 arms and rifle on to the rock raise my head 

 slowly, and lie with a feeling of relief within 

 range of the game, most of the lower half of 

 my body still resting merman-like in another 

 element. 



There are the seals, basking without suspicion, 

 and as I watch another swims up and joins 

 them. They lie, not as in most pictures they 

 are represented, with heads up and tails down, 

 breasts to the rocks, but in every variety of 

 attitude. 



Most are on their sides, looking like great 

 slugs, an occasional lazy wriggle being their 

 only sign of life, save when a fore-flipper is 

 raised in vigorous assault upon one of those 

 parasites from which an amphibious existence 

 does not appear to protect the genus. A friend 

 of mine once irreverently applied the phrase " a 

 land in which it seemed always after lunch " to 

 a seal-haunted rock, and certainly a group of 

 basking seals is irresistibly suggestive of the 

 lotus-eaters. 



Two of the group before me offer good targets 

 as they lie,- but they seem to be small, and I 

 can make out brown patches of old hair which 

 spoil the appearance of the skin. The best 

 from every point of view is lying tail on to me 



