76 Cliff Climbing 
which have resorted to this place from time immemorial are per- 
fectly well aware that this one step across the gully is exactly 
what few men care to take, for there is no foothold on the far side. 
But although a rope will not help a man to get at the nest either 
descending from the summit or ascending from the grassy terrace 
only 25 feet below, the ledge provides the proverbial way round 
for I found it quite possible to pass my Alpine rope from the 
adjacent ledge laterally round the crag so that it led along through 
the fissure containing the nest and to join the two ends together 
behind the main crag. As I was alone at the time, I made my silk 
rope fast round my body and attached myself in a bowline acting 
as a “traveller” running along the fixed rope, thus securing myself 
against the results of a possible slip. Gripping the life-line firmly, 
I made a spring forward and, with a light touch of my stockinged 
foot on a small projection, swung myself far enough to grasp the 
line well across the gully. Next instant I was in safety, lying at 
full length along the narrow ledye. Although within a few feet of 
the nest, the process of worming one’s body along between the rocks 
both above and below was awkward and painful. But the return 
journey was even werse, for it was impossible to turn so I had to 
back out of it and more than once in doing this I got jambed and 
could with difficulty free myself. Arrived at the gully, of course 
I could not see where to place my foot, and in consequence I 
slipped and, the life-line not being very taut, I went down some 
feet. The silk traveller on the line however brought me up as 
I had expected and next moment I had hauled myself back again 
on the ledge. Some years later I took Rear-Admiral Arthur 
Farquhar to the same place and we repeated the process, but with 
improvement. For the Senior Service took the precaution to im- 
provise a tackle with the spare end of the rope with which he 
got such a strain on the portion round the cliff that it more 
resembled a handrail than a line. He further rigged himself with 
