THE BiRDS OF BEMI'TON CLIFFS. 23 



man above, which, when jerked by the climber, tells his mate 

 what he requires. A single jerk means he wishes to come 

 up. The laconic command "up" is then given, and all 

 three men commence a "tug of war," by which the climber is 

 raised to the top. Two jerks mean more hand-rope, and the 

 command " more band " is given and executed. Three jerks 

 mean "less hand-rope." The rope, when hanging down 

 too far below the climber, by its weight prevents his free 

 swing to and fro', and consequently he must not have more 

 out than is necessary. Of implements, the climber has none, 

 save two linen bags, one slung across each shoulder trans- 

 versely to the opposite side of the body, and a stick, with an 

 iron hook at the end. An old "billycock " hat padded with 

 cotton-wool, or better still, a tall hat, protects his head from 

 falling stones — the only danger he dreads. Fear of any- 

 thing else is unknown to him. The qualms which a beginner 

 feels, when, for the first time, he has to launch himself 

 backwards off an overhanging ledge (comparable, I should 

 say, to those of a gymnast doing his first So ft. fly), become, 

 to the practised hand, a delightfully exhilarating sensation. 

 Sometimes he can only succeed in reaching an egg by 

 swinging in, catching at it with one hand, and swinging 

 back without touching the ledge with his feet at all. Some- 

 times he walks sideways along a ledge collecting eggs until 

 he is some twenty or thirty feet out of the perpendicular. 

 To save the trouble of walking back he kicks off from the 

 ledge, when all the eggs are gathered, and swings back to 

 the perpendicular. This is the hardest sensation of all for 

 the beginner to master. Where the cliff is overswung so 

 much as to make the eggs unattainable, iron pegs are driven 

 in at intervals by the climber. Round each of these he 

 winds his hand-rope in turn as he comes to them, and so 

 draws himself under to the desired ledge. He peers into 

 each cranny as he goes down, and if he sees a Puffin glower- 

 ing at the end of her burrow, or, mahap, a pair of Rock- 

 dove's eggs out of his reach, the stick and hook are brought 

 into requisition to draw the eggs to him. At Jubilee Corner, 

 where the rock is unusually overhung, a permanent wire 

 rope is fixed in the rock. This was first placed there by 

 attaching it to the middle of a rope, the ends of which were 

 held on each side of the projection, thus forming a loop, 

 which may be described as similar to a skipping rope. The 

 loop was then thrown over, the ends pulled tight and secured, 

 and the wire rope was ready for descent, being afterwards 

 permanently fixed by iron pegs. Considerable ingenuity 



