PERCE AND BONAVENTURE 135 



out, the Rock is the prominent feature of the coast 

 line. It dominates its surroundings as a snow- 

 capped mountain rules its dependent ranges. To 

 the bird lover it possesses a double fascination, and 

 one is constantly attracted by the ceaseless cries 

 of the throng of hovering birds, who in some inde- 

 scribable way seem to invest their home with a sense 

 of the charm, the freedom, the wildness of a sea- 

 bird's life. It is a true bird rock ; man has no part 

 in it. 



At sunset this bond between the Rock and its 

 inhabitants seemed especially strong and real. 

 Through a notch in the western hills the last rays 

 of the sun fell squarely upon the Rock, illuminating 

 it and the ever-present soaring Gulls after the land 

 and the sea were in shadow. Slowly the light left 

 the Rock, until it, too, was of the same gray -blue as 

 its surroundings ; then, like the beams from a search- 

 light, it struck the circling mass of Gulls, making 

 them seem a flurry of snowflakes descending into 

 the gloom below. 



The pilgrim to Perce* Rock will find that the 

 object of his journey not only exceeds in grandeur 

 his brightest imagination of it, but he will be fur- 

 ther rewarded by discovering Percd itself and the 

 country round about to be of exceptional interest 

 and beauty. It was the season of codfishing, and 

 every morning a fleet of a hundred or more stanch 

 little boats, each with two men, put out into the bay 

 for a day's fishing. Their return, late in the after- 

 noon, was an eventful part of the day. Then the 

 beach was the center of attraction as boat after boat 

 came in, the men depositing their catch on the sands, 



