SEALS AND SEAL-HUNTING. in 



CHAPTEK II. 



My uncle, the laird of Buness, used to be a mighty seal- 

 hunter. It was before the days of the modern " arms 

 of precision," long before breech-loaders were in com- 

 mon use, and even before the Enfield or Mini^ rifles 

 were invented. In those days, the old muzzle-loading 

 rifle was found to be not a trustworthy weapon ; he 

 therefore used a very thick -metalled fowling-piece, 

 which was deadly up to sixty or eighty yards. He 

 had a splendid boat, which he named the Haff-fisli, 

 about seventeen feet of keel, a capital sea-boat, equally 

 good for sailing and rowing, safe, therefore, in bad 

 weather and rough sea, and at the same time handy to 

 manage when rapid movements might be required, such 

 as landing in narrow creeks, or on slippery shelving 

 rocks, or shallow beaches with a surf on. His crew 

 was composed of four picked men from amongst his 

 fishermen tenants, and his henchman, who was as much 

 friend and adviser as servant, a man of great natural 

 sagacity, intelligence, and fertility of resource, and of 

 prodigious bodily strength. All of them were first-class 

 boatmen, expert pilots, familiar with every roclv and reef 

 and tideway on the coast and amongst the islands, and 

 withal steady, bright, intelligent fellows. With this 

 crew, my uncle .was wont to start on his seal-hunting 

 expeditions. He would be absent for a week, sometimes 

 more, if the weather should turn out unfavourable ; for 

 the distance from his residence to the haunts of the seals 

 was considerable. The first day would be spent amongst 



