CHAP, xxix.] SEAL IN A BOAT. 231 



she swam round, and finding her offspring in tlie midst of all the 

 confusion, swam away again from the net, leading the way for 

 the little one to escape also. I snatched up my gun and fired, 

 killing her on the spot, so that she fell back into the net, and we 

 managed to land her, and the other four, and dispatched them, 

 despite their struggles, to the great joy of the salmon-fishers of 

 the Cromarty Firth. At another time, several years ago, I was put 

 into rather a dilemma by one of these animals : we had shot a three- 

 parts grown seal, as she was asleep on an isolated rock. Having 

 got her into our very frail and crazy boat, we proceeded towards 

 the land in high spirits, but before we were half-way across, our 

 seal, who had only been stunned, the shot having merely grazed 

 her head, came to life, and finding herself in so unwonted a po- 

 sition, commenced an indiscriminate attack on everything in her 

 way ; our legs being more so than anything else, we had to 

 throw our feet up on the gunwale of the boat, and dispatch her 

 how we could, as she was tearing away, with immense strength, 

 at the woodwork within her reach, and we expected that she 

 would have made a hole in the bottom of the boat. We managed, 

 however, with some difficulty to stun her again, with the handle 

 of an oar, and got safe to land with our prize, the first of the 

 kind I had ever captured. 



