610 • THE FEATHERED TRIBES, 



Conaclum, tlie most elevated hill in the island, and supposed to be the loftiest precipitous 

 face of rock in Britain. 



' How fearful 

 Ami dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low ! 

 And Crows and Choughs, that wing the midway air, 

 Show scarce so gross as beetles ; halfway down 

 Hangs one that gathers samjihire — dreadful trade I 

 Mcthinks he seems no bigger than his head ; 

 The fishermen that walk upon the beach 

 Appear like mice ; and j-on tall anchoring bark, 

 Dimiriishcd to her cock ; her cock, a buoy, 

 Almost too small for sight : the murmuring surge, 

 ■ That on the imnumbered idle pebbles chafes, 

 Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more ; 

 Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight 

 Topple down headlong.' 



"Such. is the beautiful description of Dover Cliff, by Shakspeare ; but what would he 

 have said, could he have looked down from this precipice in St. Kilda, which is nearly 

 three times higlier, and so trome-ndous, tliat one who was accustomed to regard such 

 siglits with indifference, dared not venture to the edge of it alone 'i but, held by two of 

 the islanders, he looked over into what might be termed a world of rolling mists and 

 contending clouds. As these occasionally broke and dispersed, the ocean was disclosed 

 below, but at so great a depth, that even the roaring of its surf, dashing with fury 

 against the rocks, and rushing, with a noise like thunder, into the caverns it had formed, 

 was unheard at this stupendous height. The brink was wet and slippery — the rocks 

 perpendicular from their summit to their base ; and yet, upon this treacherous surface, 

 the St. Kilda people approached, and sat upon the extremest verge ; the youngest of 

 them even creeping down a little way from the top, after eggs or birds building in the 

 higher range, which they take in great numbers, by means of a slender pole like a 

 fishing-rod, at the end of which was fixed a noose of cow-hair, stiffened at one end with 

 the feather of a solan goose. 



" But these pranks of the young are nothing when compared to the fearful feats of the 

 older and more experienced practitioners. Several ropes of hide and hair arc first 

 tied together to increase the depth of his descent. One extremitj' of these ropes, so 

 connected, is of hide, and the end is fastened, like a girdle, round his waist. The other 

 extremity is then let down the precipice, to a considerable depth, by the adventurer 

 himself, standing at the edge ; when, giving the middle of the rope to a single man, he 

 descends, always holding by one })art of the rope, as he lets himself down by tlic other, 

 and supported from falling only by the man above, who has no part of the rope fastened 

 to him, but liolds it merely in his hands, and sometimes .supports his comrade by one 

 hand alone, looking at the same time over the precipice, without any stay for his foet, 

 and conversing with the other, as he descends to a depth of nearly four liundrcd feet. 

 A bird-catcher, on Knding himself amongst the fulmars' nests, took four, and with two in 

 each hand contrived, nevertheless, to hold tlie rope as he ascended ; and, slriiiing his foot 

 against the rock, threw himself out from the face of the precipice, and returning with a 

 bound, would again fly out, capering and shouting, and playing all sorts of tricks. 

 I'Vightful as such a di.splay must be to tiiose unaccustomed to it, accidents are extremely 

 rare; and the St. Kildians seem to think tlie possibility of a i'alid (criuinutidn to tlicsc 

 exploits almost out of the (jue^ttion. 



" It is, indeed, ustonisliing to wlmt a degree habil lUid priictice, with steitdy 

 nerves, may remove danger. l''rom the ishuid of the South Stuck, boys may be seen 

 frequently scrambling by themselves, or held on by un urchin or two of their own ngc. 



