124 WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA. 



cragsmen some opinion may he formed wlien it is 

 stated that they cUmh the tallest of tlie rock-staeks 

 (Biorrach) shown in the accompanying pictiu-e, which 

 has heen reproduced from a photogTa]ih taken Avhilst 

 we were on Soa. It is from four to five hundred 

 feet in height, and has to be ascended without the 

 aid of a rope. Biorrach is the most difficult rock- 

 stack to scale in the whole of the St. Kilda group, 

 and Avas in former times one of the tests of a man's 

 nerve when he offered himself as a candidate for 

 the coveted fold of nuitrimonial bliss. 



A few years ago a couple of fowlers climbed it 

 for the small reward of a quid of tobacco. 



Accidents do not often ha])pen nowadays ; but 

 to judge from Sir Robert Moray they must have 

 been of somewhat frequent occurrence in former 

 times, for he says that a St. Kildan was rarely 

 known to die in his bed, Ijeing either drowned or 

 having his neck broken by a fall over the cliffs. 



The decrease in the death-rate from accidents is 

 no doubt due to the exercise of greater care whilst 

 climbing. My brother went out one afternoon along 

 with one of the young men in order to photograph 

 a Fulmar's nest and egg, and descended such an 

 awkward cliff that the St. Kildan never expected 

 to sec him come up alive again, and said that if the 

 men had been there the}^ would not have allowed 

 liim to go down such a j^lace without a rope. 



The fowling-ropes now in use are nuide of 

 Manilla hem]), but formerly tliey were of horse- 

 hair, which in Martin's time was protected by a 

 coat of cowhide. I was fortunate enough to 

 secure the hist old rojjc on the islimd for lialf- 

 a-crown, and upon inquiry discovered thai tlie 

 hair of which it was composed liad cost iive 

 sliilHngs })er pound, and that tlie last man in 



