382 Mr. A. Newton on Mr. J. Wollej^'s Researches 



" cannot be reckoned at more than a sixteenth part of the 

 skerry/' and this only at the two landing-places ; " further 

 upwards he does not betake himself, on account of his flightless- 

 ness." The writer then goes on to speak of the extreme danger 

 of landing on account of the surf, saying that to go there is to 

 place life and death on an even chance ; and after mentioning 

 the report, which is even now current, that a successful expedi- 

 tion to the skerry was equally profitable with a summer's hiring 

 of two hundred fishes' value in the north country, and citing the 

 statement from the Maldaga, to which I have before referred, 

 concludes with Sir Hallkiell's couplet mentioned above. Besides 

 this, there are appended two foot-notes. In the first, the writer 

 says that in the year 1732, after a lapse of seventy-five years, the 

 skerry was visited, and two huts, three birchen staffs about two 

 ells long, and some withered human bones, were found thereon ; 

 adding, by way of comment, that three men had been known to 

 have supported themselves on the rock by eating sun-dried birds, 

 and drinking rotten eggs for half a month before they were taken 

 off. The second note gives a very accurate description of the 

 Gare-fowl and its peculiarities, including its eggs, which the 

 writer describes as if he had been an enthusiastic oologist, 

 though he considers it worthy of remark that he has '* known 

 Danes give eight to ten fishes* for an empty blown egg," the 

 climax being the apostrophe " Rara avis in terris ! " Not the 

 least singular part of the manuscript is an inserted leaf, on which 

 is drawn a very quaint sketch of the skerry. Two boats are seen, 

 anchored with large stones, according to the Icelandic custom 

 still prevalent. In one of these are seated three, and in the other 

 two men, waiting the return of three comrades, who are on the 

 rock, hunting what appear to be Gare-fowls, of which upwards of 

 sixty are represented. 



Now, it has been above stated that in 1732 expeditions to the 

 skerry were resumed after being long discontinued, and, in con- 



* I much regret not being able to give, in explanation of this and the 

 passage mentioned a few lines above, the worth of a fish at the period 

 when I suppose this manuscript to have been written. It was, and in the 

 secluded parts of the country still is, the unit of the Icelandic currency, 

 but, of course, a unit of very variable value. 



