220 



THE GANNET 



not land upon it, nor does he mention the Gannet by 

 name, while Defoe was such a mendacious writer 

 that it may be questioned whether he really saw it at all. 

 This therefore reduces the number of those who wrote 

 from first-hand knowledge to five only, viz., Major, Swave, 

 Brereton, Harvey and Ray, and of these the first is the 

 best — John Major (a.d. 1521) — he who spent his childhood 

 within sight of the lofty Bass, and had, there can be little 

 doubt, been sometimes upon it. Briefly, the authors to be 

 most relied on, and whose accounts are the best, with the 

 dates at which they wrote, are : — 



Walter Bower (or Fordun) 



John Major 



Hector Boece 



Peter Swave 



Conrad Gesner (?) 



Bishop Leslie 



Sir W. Brereton . . 



John Blaeu 



John Ray 



From all these, therefore, I have quoted as fully as it 

 was possible to do, and especially from Blaeu, the 

 Dutchman, who, thanks to his Scotch correspondents, has 

 left us the independent narrative of one who was at the Bass 

 prior to Ray's visit. 



1448 

 1521 

 1526 

 1535 

 1555 

 1578 

 1634 

 1649 

 1661 



