116 A VOYAGE TO SPITZ BERG EN. 
rest with the same feeling of want of repose a& 
though night and proper roosting-time had arrived. 
After four hours of retirement, although unaccom¬ 
panied with sleep, we find ourselves ready to renew 
the contest, and, organizing three separate parties*, 
leave the ship with a new plan which we hope may 
succeed ; our object on this occasion being, if possible*, 
after having spread ourselves some distance apart*, 
to close in from all sides, and so surround the seals- 
at some common centre. Our plan, clever as it seemed*, 
did not succeed ; the seals were more wary then ever*, 
and demanded all our skill both for tracking them*, 
and, when found, to account for those fired at; evi¬ 
dently the difficulty of shooting from a boat in a 
rough sea can be overcome by practice, and by prac¬ 
tice alone. As the time wore on we knocked over a 
seal that had already been wounded by a bullet from 
some other ship. One would think a rifle bullet 
lodged in the back would be a source of inconve¬ 
nience to the wearer, but there was nothing to indi¬ 
cate that he had suffered in the least from the leaden: 
deposit. 
One poor seal to-day interested us greatly in his 
fate, though our desire to capture him at all hazards 
did not overcome our pity, for in his plight he hap¬ 
pened to be close to the edge, of the ice as we ap- 
