CHAP. XXIX.] SEAL IN A BOAT. 231 
she swam round, and finding her offspring in the midst of all the 
confusion, swam away again from the net, leading the way for 
the little one to escape also. I snatched up my gun and fired, 
killing her on the spot, so that she fell back into the net, and we 
managed to land her, and the other four, and dispatched them, 
despite their struggles, to the great joy of the salmon-fishers of 
the Cromarty Firth. At another time, several years ago, I was put 
into rather a dilemma by one of these animals: we had shot a three- 
parts grown seal, as she was asleep on an isolated rock. Having 
got her into our very frail and crazy boat, we proceeded towards 
the land in high spirits, but before we were half-way across, our 
seal, who had only been stunned, the shot having merely grazed 
her head, came to life, and finding herself in so unwonted a po- 
sition, commenced an indiscriminate attack on everything in her 
way; our legs being more so than anything else, we had to 
throw our feet up on the gunwale of the boat, and dispatch her 
how we could, as she was tearing away, with immense strength, 
at the woodwork within her reach, and we expected that she 
would have made a hole in the bottom of the boat. We managed, 
however, with some difficulty to stun her again, with the handle 
of an oar, and got safe to land with our prize, the first of the 
kind I had ever captured. 
