230 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [cuap. xxrm. 
face, with a bewildered air of astonishment; then seeing what 
kind of enemy he had to deal with, he gave a tremendous shake, 
casting Donald off like a “bit rag,” as he expressed it, and 
leaving him prostrate in the pool of blood that had come out of 
the bullet-hole, moved slowly into the water, and quietly went 
down to the bottom. Donald, in utter disgust and wretchedness 
at losing his prize, walked straight home, and went to bed to 
sleep off his disappointment. The next morning, however, on 
considering over the matter, he came to the conclusion that the 
seal must be dead, and would probably, as the tide ebbed, be 
grounded on one of the adjacent sand-banks; so he returned to 
the bay at low-water, and the first thing he saw was his seal 
lying dead on a sand-bank, and looking like a coble keel upper- 
most. And a perfect argosy did it turn out, producing more 
pints of oil and a larger skin than ever seal produced before or 
since. : 
I have seen these animals caught by placing a strong net, 
made for the purpose, across a deep and narrow channel through 
which they escaped when frightened off a sand-bank, where 
they were in the habit of resting at low-water. We quietly laid 
the net down, fixing it at each end with an anchor; we then 
rowed round to the bank, and away went the seals, splattering 
over the wet sands into the channel; we came after them as hard 
as we could row. At first, when they struck the net, some 
turned back, but frightened on by our shouts, they made a rush 
at the net. We got to one end of it, aetached the anchor, and 
began to haul it round, so as to enclose the seals; then began a 
noise and clamour which surpassed anything of the kind I ever 
heard—the seals splashing and snorting like drowning horses, 
while we were all straining every nerve to row round the boat, 
with the weight and struggles of seventeen seals, large and small, 
against us; my crew of six Highlanders, shuuting, cursing and 
swearing, and encouraging each other in Gaelic—presently a 
more furious shout from the leader of the crew announced that 
something unexpected had happened, and looking round, we saw 
that thirteen of the seals had escaped, partly by jumping over the 
net, and partly by breaking through a weak part of it. One 
very large seal, who we afterwards found had left her young one 
within the net, returned in her maternal fondness to rescue it ; 
