466 BIRD-CATCHING IN SHETLAND 



or still further to the north, in the Shetland or Ferroe 

 Islands, that this "dreadful trade " is carried- on in the 

 perfection of its horrors ; though in some parts of Wales, 

 as, for instance, near the South Stack above-men- 

 tioned, and the Needle Rocks off the Isle of Wight, 

 adventurous climbers will occasionally exhibit feats of 

 perilous achievement, quite sufficient to satisfy most 

 beholders. In some parts of the coast, immense mounds 

 or fragments of rocks have been cut off from the main 

 land by terrible convulsions of nature, or the incessant 

 wearing of waves through fissures and narrow channels 

 for successive ages. On a few of these spots, sea-birds, 

 for a time, rested securely, till some bold adventurers 

 devised the means of invading their territories, crossing 

 the space by means of cradles, suspended on ropes 

 thrown across. 



At Carrick-a-Reade, near the Giant's Causeway, in 

 Ireland, and in the Shetland Islands, two of these airy 

 conveyances are still in use ; and, until a suspension- 

 bridge was erected a few years ago, a third, and tolerably 

 commodious and safe one, existed, connecting the South 

 Stack rock with Holyhead mountain, in lieu of an origi- 

 nal and far more primitive machine, which was for a 

 time, of necessity, resorted to by those who wished to 

 inspect the works on the island. It consisted of a small 

 box, suspended on two strong ropes swung across a 

 chasm of about a hundred and fifty feet, commencing its 

 journey from a projecting point, about half-way down 

 the precipice of the main land, from which the passenger 

 was vaulted over the gulf, by a rope leading to the 

 island, a journey which, together with the scrambling 

 down the unprotected face of the precipice, was suffi- 

 ciently disagreeable and alarming, to convey a correct 

 idea of the far more terrific communications adopted in 

 less frequented places; such as that in Shetland, be- 

 tween the headland of Bressa, a sort of column rising 

 out of the sea to the height of three or four hundred 

 feet above its level, and not more than four yards in 

 diameter on its summit. It is said that this cradle, by 



