Page:Castaway on the Auckland Isles (IA castawayonauckla01musg).pdf/83

Rh the gum, and 5¾ inches at the base. Mr. Raynal has some larger than this.

It is a surprising fact that the nearer to the water a seal is killed, the more tenacious it is of life. I have actually seen one of these black bull seals, with two bullets in him, his head split open with an axe, and his brains hanging out, dragging the men along the beach, who were trying to keep him out of the water by hanging on to his hind flappers; and he would have got away had not another man at that moment come to their assistance, and chopped off his head entirely with the axe. But when they are at any great distance from the water a slight tap on the nose will stun them, and if struck immediately they will probably die without the slightest muscular motion. But in striking these fellows it is necessary to make sure of your blow, for if you miss they will have hold of you, and they would undoubtedly break the limb they got hold of. None of us as yet have got bit, thank God; but they have on one or two occasions taken the club out of some of our hands. After getting our seal into the boat, we went as far as the western head or entrance, where we got another black seal, and saw there three others, which we could have killed, but the two we had already got were a load for the boat. We also saw about half-a-dozen in the water, all black seals. Not very long ago we thought it would be impossible to eat this kind of seal; and indeed they are not by any means fit for food, for the strong smell of the meat is enough not only to disgust but to stifle a person. But what are starving men to do? and we may consider ourselves such. Hunger is certainly a good sauce. We were all in a state of excitement over the seal that was shot, for fear we should lose him and not be able to get any more.

After taking a good view of the entrance, we returned to the boat and set sail homeward (as I must call my prison-house), with a strong fair wind, as much as we could carry the whole sail to, and were not more than two hours and a