48 SEALS OF THE SHETLAND ISLANDS. 



the finger from the trigger, I started him from his slumbers 

 by a warning shout that sent him plunging into his native 

 element, with a strong consciousness of his danger, and I 

 hope a grateful sense of my forbearance. Taking it alto- 

 gether, it is a soul-stirring hunt ; the game is a noble one, 

 his size, power, activity, sagacity, and vigilance, the slippery 

 element in which he is pursued, presenting enough of dan- 

 gers to face, and difficulties to overcome. The ingenious stra- 

 tagems and judicious arrangements to ensure his capture, 

 the rugged grandeur of the scenery of his favourite retreats, 

 present a combination that includes every thing essential that 

 charms us in the chase ; and sure I am, there is no real sports- 

 man having once experienced it, who would deny this. 



Philosophers in their studies may reprobate this love of 

 hunting, but it is not as some of them have imagined syno- 

 nymous with the love of cruelty. Hunting is necessary in 

 the early stages of society to procure food and clothing, 

 and to overcome rapacious animals that dispute with man the 

 sovereignty of the wilderness. But the conviction of its 

 utility would of itself be insufficient to induce the savage 

 to acquire the skill and to practise the courage and perseve- 

 rance which it demands ; a simpler, more continued, and 

 pleasurable impulse is therefore superadded by the wise 

 Author of existence, of which metaphysically as little ex- 

 planation can perhaps be given, as of any other instinct 

 auxiliary to reason, but of which we see the use ; and it is 

 this instinctive impulse, as well as the pleasures derived from 

 scenery, and association, and active exercise, both physical 

 and intellectual, to which we must look for the source of 

 that passion for the chase which is so captivating and uni- 

 versal. 



are found. This hypothesis, whether or not it may be considered a 

 just one, I have ventured to maintain for twenty years past. 



