226 WILD SPOR1'S OF THE HIGHLANDS. [crap. xx1x 
‘me, which quite concealed me on the side from which he came. 
He approached the net, and began examining it leisurely and 
carefully to see if any fish were in it; sometimes he was under 
and sometimes above the water. I was much struck by his 
activity while underneath, where I could most plainly see him, 
particularly as he twice dived almost below my station, and the 
water was clear and smooth as glass. 
I could not get a good shot'at him for some time; at last, 
however, he put up his head at about fifteen or twenty yards dis- 
tance from me; and while he was intent on watching the boat, 
which was hovering about waiting to see the result of my plan 
of attack, I fired at him, sending the ball through his brain. 
He instantly sank without a struggle, and a perfect torrent of 
blood came up, making the water red for some feet round 
the spot where he lay stretched out at the bottom. The 
men immediately rowed up, and taking me into the boat, we 
managed to bring him up with a boathook to the surface of 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 
whom he had expended a most amazing quantity of lead. He 
assured me that 100/. 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 
