THE GANNET. Gil 



lotting thcmseh'cs down tlic pictui-esque precipice oi)posito the island, by a piece of rope 

 so slender, and apparently rotten, that the wonder is wli}' it does not snap at the first 

 strain. Yet, without a particle of fear, heedless of cousequeuccs, they will swing 

 tliemselves to a lodge barely wide enough to admit the foot of a goat, and thence pick 

 their way with or without the rope, to pillage the nest of a gull, which, if aware of its 

 own powers, might flap them headlong to the bottom. 



" Here too, as in .St. Kilda, accidents are said to be of rare occurrence, though, of 

 course, they do occasionally happen ; but escapes, sufHciently appalling to make the 

 blood run cold to hear of, are common enough. 



" The first we shall mention happened about two miles from the South Stack, on the 

 rocky coast of Rhoscolin. A lady, living near the spot, sent a boy in search of samphire, 

 with a trusty servant to hold the rope at the top. While the boy was dangling midway 

 between sk}' and water, the servant, who was unused to his situation, whether owing to 

 a sudden dizziness from looking downward on the boy's motions, or misgivings as to his 

 own powers of holding him up, felt a cold, sickly shivering creep over him, accompanied 

 with a certainty that he was about to faint ; the inevitable con.sequence of which, he had 

 sense enough left to know, would be the certain death of the boy, and, in all probability, 

 of himself, as, in the act of fainting, it was most likely he would fall forward, and follow 

 the rojDO and boy do^^^n the precipice. In this dilemma, he uttered a loud desjDairing 

 scream, which was fortunately heard'Jby a woman working in an adjoining field, who, 

 running up, was just in time to catch the rope as the fainting man fell senseless at 

 her foot. 



" We shall add two more, equally hazardous, — and one fatal. Many bird-catchers go 

 on these expeditions without any companion to hold the rope or assist them. It was on 

 such a solitary excursion that a man, having fastened his rope to a stake on the top, let 

 himself down far below ; and, in his ardour for collecting birds and eggs, followed the 

 course of a ledge, beneath a mass of overhanging rock ; unfortunately he had omitted to 

 take the usual precaution of tying the rope round his bod}-, but held it carelessly in his 

 hand ; when, in a luckless moment, as he was busily engaged in pillaging a nest, it 

 slipped from his grasp, and, after swinging backwards and forwards three or four times, 

 without coming within reach, at last became stationary over the ledge of the projecting 

 rock, leaving the bird-catcher apparently without a chance of escape ; for to ascend the 

 precipice without a rope was impossible, and none were near to hear his cries or afford 

 him help. What was to be done ? Death stared him in the face. After a few minutes' 

 pause, he made up his mind. By a desperate leap he might regain the rope ; but if he 

 failed, and, at the distance at which it hung, the chances were against him, his fate was 

 certain, amidst the pointed crags ready to receive him, over which the waves were 

 dashing far, far below. Collecting, therefore, all his strength, with outstretched arms, 

 he sprang from the rock, and lived to tell the tale — for the rope was caught ! 



" The next occurred at St. Kilda, where, amongst other modes of catching the sea- 

 fowl, that of setting gins or nooses is adopted. They are fixed in various places 

 frequented by the birds. In one of these, set upon a ledge, a hundred and twenty feet 

 above the sea, a bird-catcher entangled his foot, and not being at the moment aware of 

 it, was, on moving onwards, tripped up, and precipitated over the rock, where he hung 

 suspended. He, too, as in the preceding case, had no companion ; and, to add to his 

 misfortune, darkness was at hand, leaving little prospect of his being discovered before 

 morning. In vain he exerted himself to bend upwards, so as to reach the noose or 

 grapple the rock. After a few fruitless efforts, his strength was exhausted, and in this 

 dreadful situation, expecting, moreover, that the noose might give way every instant, 

 did he pass a long night. At early dawn, by good fortune, his shouts were heard by a 

 neighbour, who rescued him from his perilous suspension. 



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