THE HOME OF THE GREAT AUK. 459 



row natural jjatli leading from near the level of the sea to perhaps 

 twenty feet above it. The path at its widest is four feet across, 

 but from this it tapers either way to nothing, the upper end ter- 

 minating in a fissure just large enough to accommodate one's foot, 

 the rough, weathered granite forming a very good substitute for 

 a hand-rail. Indeed, Nature has probably never devised a better 

 rock for climbing purposes than the coarse-grained, feldspathic 

 granite composing Funk Island, which weathers into crannies and 

 projections whose rough surfaces offer secure support for hand 

 and foot. 



Below the " Bench " the cliff descends almost vertically to a 

 depth of one hundred and twenty feet beneath the sea, this combi- 

 nation of deep water and perpendicular rock offering no obstacle to 

 chafe the sea into breaking, so that, but for the never-ceasing rise 

 and fall of the swell, one almost seems to be lying beside some 

 huge pier. This landing, however, is only practicable during a 

 calm or with a southerly wind ; and, smooth as it was at the time 

 of our visit, the boat rose and fell with every heave of the ocean 

 from four to six feet. With a northerly wind, boats seek a 

 more precarious landing at the southwestern extremity of the 

 island. 



Once on the " Bench," to which we hastened to transfer our- 

 selves and all our baggage, it is an easy matter to reach the sum- 

 mit of the island, either by scrambling directly up the rock or by 

 an easier but longer zigzag path. 



The result of a careful study of the island during the forenoon 

 had been a unanimous decision that the precipitous character of 

 a large portion of the shore hardly bore out Prof. Milne's simile 

 of its likeness to an upturned saucer. Viewed from the eastern 

 bluffs, it looks not only steep but larger and higher than most ac- 

 counts would lead one to suppose. Its greatest length seems over 

 half a mile, and its greatest width something over a quarter ; so 

 that Cartier, who came here in 1532 and 1534, can not be far out 

 of the way when he says " it containeth about a league in circuit." 

 While it may be a little presumptuous to question the height of 

 forty-six feet given on the chart, nevertheless sixty feet would 

 apparently be much nearer the mark. 



Two faults, deepened hj time into shallow valleys, divide the 

 island into three ridges running almost east and west. The north- 

 ern and central of these are bare rock, for the most part smoothed 

 and rounded by rain and ice, but here and there weathered into 

 curious, overlapping ledges. Here, where there is no soil what- 

 ever, the smell of guano arising from the droppings of the murres 

 and puffins is quite noticeable, but elsewhere there is but little 

 odor, and that due to the puffins. Rain has washed the soluble 

 matter from the ancient soil of the island, while the heaps of auk 



