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fins, which are sought for by the agent, Mr. Thomson, chiefly for 
the sake of the feathers. He employs cragmen, or clifters, to pro- 
cure these birds, allowing 6d. for every score they bring. The 
operations of these cragmen are not less perilous than curious. 
They provide themselves with a large cable, long enough to reach 
the bottom of the cliff; one of them ties an end of this rope about 
his middle, holding it fast with both hands; the other end is held 
by four or five men, standing one after the other, who are warned 
by the cragman, when arrived at the haunts of the puffins, to hold 
fast. Here the cragman gets rid of the rope, and falls on the game 
with a pole, fastened to which is a snare he easily claps on the bird’s 
neck, all being done at night; such as he kills he ties on a string. 
His comrades return early the next morning, let down the rope, and 
haul him up. In this way he kills from fifteen to thirty score per 
night. Quantities of large eggs are also taken out of these deep 
cliffs. In the summer of 1816, two unfortunate men, engaged in 
this frightful occupation of cragmen, missed their footing, and were 
instantly dashed to pieces. 
Hares and rabbits abound in the islands, as do land and water 
fowls, plovers, wild pidgeon, gannets, solan geese, ducks, &c. 
Dun-engus, the very ancient fortification already mentioned, stands 
on a great precipice hanging over the sea. It is extremely rude, being 
composed of large stones, roughly heaped on, without cement of 
any kind. Within its area it may contain about 200 cattle. There 
is another Dun much of a similar description. I have already given 
the history of both, so far as their extreme antiquity adinitted ; rem- 
nants more ancient, in point of military architecture, are certainly 
not to be found throughout the British isles, nor perhaps throughout 
Europe. The other Duns, seen here, are of no note. The three 
caverns, ealled the puffing holes, are at the south extremity of the 
VOL, XIV. U 
