Bagpipes and the Seal

It is affirmed by the Highlanders that the seal is fond of music, and that the bagpipe is often employed to allure
him within reach of gunshot; and it is not certain that this is a vulgar error.

One fine day in August, when the sea was perfectly calm, being upon Loch Linnhe in a boat in which was a piper, and a seal appearing at a distance, going in a different direction, a Highland gentleman undertook to recall him, and bring him up in the wake of the boat. The boat advanced slowly; the piper played; and the seal almost immediately changed his course, aod followed for nearly two miles.

The gentleman then ordered the rowers to push on with all their might for a little space, then rest upon their oars. The seal swam lustily, and seemed so taken up with the music as not to perceive that the boat had stopped, and soon came so near, that he was fired at, at about half-shot distance. He dived, and did not come to the sorface again ; from which it was concluded that he was mortally wounded, as, in such a case, he is said to dive to the bottom, and roll himself up in the sea-weed till he dies, that the hunter may not get his skin and blubber!

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