SEAL-SHOOTING 261 



indeed, great muscular power in every part of their body. A 

 farmer near the coast here, seeing several basking on the sand- 

 banks, and not being possessed of a gun, hit upon what seemed 

 to him the capital plan of setting a strong bulldog at them, 

 hoping that the dog would hold one of them till he could get 

 up and kill it with his spade. The dog reached the seals before 

 they could get into the water, and attacked one of the largest. 

 The seal, however, with a single bite completely smashed the 

 head of the dog, and flinging him to one side, scuffled away 

 into the water, leaving the farmer not much inclined to attempt 

 seal-hunting again. 



My man, one day while we were waiting in our ambuscade 

 for the seals, gave me an account of a curious adventure he had 

 with one near the same spot a few years back. 



He was lying at daybreak ensconced close to the water's 

 edge, waiting in vain for a shot at some grey geese that fre- 

 quented the place at the time, when he saw a prodigiously large 

 seal floating quietly along with the tide, not thirty yards from 

 the shore. Donald did not disturb the animal, but went home 

 early in the day, and, having cast some bullets for his gun and 

 made other preparations, retired to rest. The next morning 

 he was again at the shore, well concealed, and expecting to see 

 the seal pass with the flowing tide ; nor was he disappointed. 

 About the same period of the rise of the tide, the monster ap- 

 peared again. Donald cocked his gun, and crouched down 

 behind his ambuscade of seaweed and shingle, ready for the 

 animal's head to appear within shot. This soon happened, but 

 instead of swimming on with the tide, the seal came straight to 

 the shore, not above ten yards from where his mortal enemy 

 was lying concealed. The water was deep to the very edge, 

 and the great unwieldy beast clambered up the steep beach, 

 and was very soon high and dry, a few yards from the muzzle 

 of Donald's gun, which was immediately pointed at him, but 

 from the position in which the seal was lying he could not get 

 a shot at the head, the only part where a wound would prove 

 immediately fatal. Donald waited some time, in hopes that 

 the animal would turn or lift his head, but at last losing patience, 

 he gave a low whistle, which had the immediate effect of making 

 the animal lift its head to listen. The gun was immediately 

 discharged, and the ball passed through the seal's neck, close 



