When a song for supper sealed their fate

Published on Saturday 18 August 2007 01:12

ANCIENT Scots fishermen sang a song to attract seals which were then killed for their meat and skin, according to new research. Historians have discovered an old tune sung to mimic the sound of seals then passed down through the generations.

The tune, for which there are no known words, will be broadcast tomorrow as part of a documentary on Radio Scotland. A version of "Fisherman's Song for Attracting Seals", prepared in the 19th century, was discovered by Dr John Purser, a research fellow at the University of the Highlands and Islands.

Dr Purser, director of Gaelic music at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, the university's Gaelic College on the Isle of Skye, said the seal song was thought up centuries ago because seals' calls often sounded "like human singing". He said: "Since the stone age in Scotland, people used sounds to lure in creatures which they could eat. Bone flutes have been found which were well adapted to attracting birds. But this song is the first evidence we know of where people sang for their meals."