SEAL-SHOOTING 259 



the water, and then, as he was too heavy to lift into the boat 

 (his weight being 378 lbs.), we put a rope round his flippers, 

 and towed him ashore. A seal of this size is worth some 

 money, as, independently of the value of his skin, the blubber 

 (which lies under the skin, like that of a whale) produces a 

 large quantity of excellent oil. This seal had been for several 

 years the dread of the fishermen at the stake-nets, and the head 

 man at the place was profuse in his thanks for the destruction 

 of a beast upon which he had expended a most amazing 

 quantity of lead. He assured me that ;£^ioo would not repay 

 the damage the animal had done. Scarcely any two seals are 

 exactly of the same colour or marked quite alike, and seals 

 frequenting a particular part of the coast become easily known 

 and distinguished from each other. 



There is a certain part of the coast near the sand-hills 

 where I can generally get a shot at a seal. I have frequently 

 killed them, but seldom get the animal, as the water is deep 

 at the place and the current strong. The spot I allude to is 

 where the sea, at the rise of the tide, flows into a large basin 

 through a narrow channel, the deep part of which is not much 

 more than a hundred yards in width. If there are any seals 

 hunting this part of the coast, they come into this basin at 

 every tide in search of fish, or to rest in the quiet water. My 

 plan is to be at the place before the tide has begun to rise, and 

 then, having made up a breastwork of sand and weed, I wait 

 for the appearance of the seals, which frequently, before the tide 

 has risen much, come floating in, with their heads above the 

 water. If they do not perceive my embankment, I am nearly 

 certain of a shot, but if they do, they generally keep over on 

 the opposite side of the channel, watching it so closely that on 

 the least movement on my part they instantly dive. So quick 

 are their movements in the water, that I find it impossible to 

 strike a seal with ball if he is watching me, for quick and 

 certain as is a detonating gun, they are still quicker, and dive 

 before the ball can reach them. As for a flint gun, it has not 

 a chance with them. Within the memory of some of the people 

 here, seals were very numerous about this part of the coast, 

 and were constantly killed by the farmers for the sake of their 

 oil, and with no weapons except their hoes or spades, with 

 which they attacked them when lying on the sand-banks. It 



