THE LABRADOR JOURNAL 36 1 



perceive on the surface of the rock. The birds, which we 

 now could distinctly see, sat almost touching each other 

 and in regular lines, seated on their nests quite uncon- 

 cerned. The discharge of the guns had no effect on those 

 that were not touched by the shot, for the noise of the 

 Gulls, Guillemots, etc., deadened the sound of the gun; 

 but where the shot took effect, the birds scrambled and 

 flew off in such multitudes, and in such confusion, that 

 whilst some eight or ten were falling into the water either 

 dead or wounded, others pushed off their eggs, and these 

 fell into the sea by hundreds in all directions. The sea 

 now becoming very rough, the boat was obliged to return, 

 with some birds and some eggs ; but the crew had not 

 climbed the rock, a great disappointment to me. God- 

 win tells me the top of the rock is about a quarter of a 

 mile wide, north and south, and a little narrower east and 

 west; its elevation above the sea between three and four 

 hundred feet. The sea beats round it with great vio- 

 lence, except after long calms, and it is extremely diffi- 

 cult to land upon it, and much more so to climb to the 

 top of it, which is a platform ; it is only on the southeast 

 shore that a landing can be made, and the moment a boat 

 touches, it must be hauled up on the rocks. The whole 

 surface is perfectly covered with nests, placed about two 

 feet apart, in such regular order that you may look 

 through the lines as you would look through those of a 

 planted patch of sweet potatoes or cabbages. The fisher- 

 men who kill these birds, to get their flesh for codfish 

 bait, ascend in parties of six or eight, armed with clubs; 

 sometimes, indeed, the party comprises the crews of sev- 

 eral vessels. As they reach the top, the birds, alarmed, 

 rise with a noise like thunder, and fly off in such hurried, 

 fearful confusion as to throw each other down, often fall- 

 ing on each other till there is a bank of them many feet 

 high. The men strike them down and kill them until 

 fatigued or satisfied. Five hundred and forty have been 



