228 WILD SPORTS OF 'THE HIGHLANDS. [cmap. xxx. 
late years in building a lighthouse and other works, they very 
seldom rest on them at present. They were also much fright- 
ened by a plan for catching them adopted by some of the work- 
men. Observing that the seals when disturbed tumbled off the 
rocks in great confusion, two fellows, during low-water, fixed 
firmly into the rock several strongly barbed iron hooks, with the 
points turned upwards, This done, the first time that they saw 
any great assemblage of seals basking on the rock, near their 
hooks, they got into a boat and rowed quickly up to the place, 
firing guns and making all the noise that they could. The poor 
seals, in their hurry to escape, came tumbling over the side of 
the rocks where the hooks were placed. Several were much torn 
and wounded, and one was held till the men got up and dis- 
patched him. This cruel proceeding had the effect of keeping 
them from the place for a considerable time afterwards. Not- 
withstanding the great timidity of the seals, they have immense 
strength in their jaws, and, 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. 
