DIFFICULTY OF KILLING HIM. 57 



more or less from the motion of the waves, 

 and that the slab of ice on which your 

 orange is lying is heaving also ; and this, upon 

 consideration, you will admit, increases the 

 " dif&culty " a little ; neither Lord David 

 Kennedy nor myself were altogether tyros in 

 the use of the rifle before we began, but 

 we found the difficulty considerable ; however, 

 after a few days we became adepts at it, and 

 rarely missed killing a seal dead. The rifles 

 we both used were elliptical, four-barrelled 

 Lancaster's of 40-gauge. During the last 

 100 or 150 yards of the boat's approach to 

 the seal, the steersman alone propels it by 

 gently paddling it with two oars, one eye on 

 the seal and the other on his oars ; if the 

 seal looks in the direction, of the boat, he 

 stops rowing, and great care is requisite on 

 his part to avoid coming against pieces of ice, 

 which make a rasping noise, almost sure to 

 attract the attention of the seal. I need hardly 

 observe that the boat must also keep care- 

 fully to leeward, as the seal has an acute 

 sense of smell, and if the advantage of the 

 sun can be obtained, in addition, as in the 

 case above related, the moments of Phoca 

 barbata are probably numbered. I always 



