122 THE GANNET 



and here after passing a night of anxiety they obtained a 

 calm, and reached St. Kilda by rowing, two days later. 

 The islanders, who numbered 180, received them with a 

 " God save you," and assigned to them a maintenance, 

 consisting partly of eggs, of which in three weeks, such was 

 their liberality, they had bestowed upon them 16,000, of 

 which a good many were the large eggs of the " Lavy," or 

 Guillemot.* One wonders not so much at the islanders 

 collecting 16,000 eggs, which would be an easy task, 

 as at the capacity which Martin and his crew possessed 

 to eat so many, but they had an astringent effect, 

 and the men presently became costive and feverish. 

 Eventually Martin and his coadjutor restored them all to 

 health.! 



Of Stack Lii, or " Ly," as he spells it, which Martin 

 found an opportunity of visiting, though he does not say 

 that he attempted to ascend it, he gives a rather full account, 

 describing the rock as of a blueish colour at a distance, 

 but when approached it proved to be " perfectl}'' white with 

 Solan Geese sitting on and about it. "J The natives told 

 him that Stack Lii afforded them five, six, or seven thousand 

 Solan Geese in a year, provided the wind did not disappoint 

 them of their harvest. 



* Eighteen eggs of the Lavy per diem for each man. 

 t t.c, p. 65. X p. 39. 



