WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP, xxix 



me, which quite concealed me on the side from which he came. 

 He approached the net, and began examining it leisurely and 

 carefully to see if any fish were in it ; sometimes he was under 

 and sometimes above the water. I was much struck by his 

 activity while underneath, where I could most plainly see him, 

 particularly as he twice dived almost below my station, and the 

 water was clear and smooth as glass. 



I could not get a good shot at him for some time ; at last, 

 however, he put up his head at about fifteen or twenty yards dis- 

 tance from me ; and while he was intent on watching the boat, 

 which was hovering about waiting to see the result of my plan 

 of attack, I fired at him, sending the ball through his brain. 

 He instantly sank without a struggle, and a perfect torrent of 

 blood came up, making the water red for some feet round 

 the spot where he lay stretched out at the bottom. The 

 men immediately rowed up, and taking me into the boat, we 

 managed to bring him up with a boathook to the surface of the 

 water, and then, as he was too heavy to lift into the boat (his 

 weight being 378 Ibs.) we put a rope round his flippers, and 

 towed him ashore. A seal of this size is wortli some money, as, 

 independently of the value of his skin, the blubber (which lies 

 under the skin, like that of a whale) produces a large quantity 

 of excellent oil. This seal had been for several years the dread 

 of the fishermen at the stake-nets, and the head man at the place 

 was profuse in his thanks for the destruction of a beast upon 

 whom he had expended a most amazing quantity of lead. He 

 assured me that 1001. would not repay the damage the animal hail 

 done. Scarcely any two seals are exactly of the same colour or 

 marked quite alike, and seals, frequenting a particular part of the 

 coast, become easily known and distinguished from each other. 



There is a certain part of the coast near the sand-hills where 

 I can generally get a shot at a seal. I have frequently killed 

 them, but seldom get the animal, as the water is deep at the 

 place and the current strong. The spot I allude to is where 

 the sea, at the rise of the tide, flows into a large basin through a 

 narrow channel, the deep part of which is not much more than a 

 hundred yards in width. If there are any seals hunting this part 

 of the coast, they come into this basin at every tide in search of 

 fish, or to rest in the quiet water. My plan is to be at the place 



