380 GILPIN ON THE SEALS OF NOVA SCOTIA. 



they all love to bask upon the warm sands. They were very fond 

 of the placid waters of the inland lake, and taking advantage of an 

 opening from the sea forced in by the late heavy weather, hundreds 

 of them would be sporting on its shallow waters or lying in scores 

 on its yellow beaches. They looked at a distance like stony reefs, 

 so motionless was their rest. At dawn of the early May mornings 

 we found the new born whelps, born of the night, lying on the 

 shores. They w^ere very dark, very velvety, about two feet long, 

 with most lustrous eyes deeply steeped in sleep. These little sea 

 babes snaped and snarled and made every hummochy exertion to 

 escape seaward, the mother meanwhile swimming in restless circles 

 a half gun-shot from shore. Being placed in the water for the first 

 time no doubt, it instinctively flattened itself, dived and reappeared 

 upon its mother's back, who soon carried it far from our baneful 

 presence. We must have broken in upon her nursery law^s, as the 

 whelps generally do not take the sea till twenty days old, and then 

 very cautiously, trying the shallow^ pools first. About the middle 

 of July these whelps had grown to four feet in length, (they mea- 

 sured to my breast) and weighed about sixty pounds. They were 

 constantly on shore and seemed to require a great deal of sleep. 

 They slept constantly upon their backs and very sound, whilst the 

 old ones slept upon their bellies, their head slightly turned upwards. 

 As their hind flippers were also turned up, this gave them the ap- 

 pearance of beached canoes at a distance. In all the representations 

 of seals I have never seen this attitude depicted. I could always 

 approach a young one, but the old, ever vigilant, went off" in their 

 hummocky gallop, using certainly their fore flippers, but more the 

 abdominal muscles, at such a slapping pace that a smart gallop 

 brought me to the land wash with the whole herd struo^o^lino^ in the 

 creamy breaker, that now twisting my poney's legs from under 

 her, was warning me to pull her out. They usually accompanied 

 me after this for three or four miles, keeping even with me just 

 outside the breaker as I rode along the solitary beach. The whelps 

 at the end of July, being worth from two to three dollars for their 

 skins and oil, are mercilessly run upon and clubbed. We shot 

 many from the shore and our boats. A seal rising his head above 

 water keeps his eye intently on you, presently he turns to dive, 



