SEALS GREAT AND SMALL 65 



The discovery of cheap and plentiful mineral oil 

 has, no doubt, been the principal cause of their present 

 immunity from molestation. In the old days when 

 their oil was the only illuminant easily procurable, 

 the natives of the island used to net them in large 

 numbers in the "rivers" formed among the reefs by 

 the outgoing tide. Now there is no great inducement 

 to molest them. Colonsay contains no fresh-water 

 streams up which salmon and sea-trout can run from 

 the sea, and therefore there is no necessity to protect 

 those valuable fish from their natural enemies. Per- 

 mitted to multiply unchecked, the interesting mammals 

 abound, and afford abundant opportunities for the 

 study and observation of their uncouth gambols on 

 land, and their graceful and ever- varying manoeuvres 

 in the clear water. 



I had heard of the abundance of seals in Colonsay, 

 and on my first visit of inspection I told Malcolm 

 M'Neill, the "manager," that I should like to see 

 some. We drove together in the old buckboard across 

 the links at Machrins to the point of Ardskenish where 

 it overlooks the Western mouth of the Strand. The 

 sea was calm, and the sun bright, and in the middle 

 distance a whole archipelago of long and apparently 

 flat rocks just showed above the tide. Without a 

 glass I could detect no seals, although I am pretty 

 sharp-sighted, but Malcolm knew well enough the 

 nature of the tiny specks that gave a serrated appear- 

 ance to the broken lines of the islets. "Just turn your 

 glass there, and I am thinking you will see some." I 

 obeyed his injunctions, and the low rock upon which 

 I focussed the lens resolved itself into a wriggling 

 mass of slug-like amphibians, those nearest to the 



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