AND ST. KILDA. 46? 



which the inhabitants pass easily and readily, and, from 

 habit, without any fear of danger, was erected by a bold 

 man in the neighbourhood, who mounted the hitherto 

 supposed inaccessible sides of the rock. A great num- 

 ber of people were assembled, expecting to see him lose 

 his footing, and fall headlong : however, he succeeded, 

 and when at the top, waved his hat and cheered his 

 friends ; and then having, with their assistance on the 

 opposite side, arranged the ropes and cradle, might have 

 been the first to cross safely and successfully over his 

 own bridge, but being fool-hardy, and determined to 

 descend by the way he had got up, before he had accom- 

 plished a third of the distance, his foot slipped, and he 

 was dashed to pieces. 



But though here and there accommodations like this, 

 or others, for facilitating the visits of the bird-catchers 

 to their particular haunts, may be at hand, by far the 

 greater number are taken by enterprising individuals, 

 who have only their own steadiness of head, strength of 

 muscle, and dauntless spirit, to insure success. We will 

 describe the means and proceedings of those in St. Kilda, 

 a small speck of an island, the most westward and distant, 

 (save a still smaller needle-pointed uninhabited spot, 

 called Rockall,) in the midst of the Atlantic Ocean, 

 containing a few people, who, from infancy accustomed 

 to precipices, drop from crag to crag, as fearlessly as 

 the birds themselves. Their great dependence is upon 

 ropes of two sorts; one made of hides, the other of 

 hair of cow's tails, all of the same thickness. The 

 former are the most ancient, and still continue in the 

 greatest esteem, as being stronger, and less liable to 

 wear away, or be cut by rubbing against the sharp edges 

 of rocks. These ropes are of various lengths, from 

 ninety to a hundred and twenty, and nearly two hundred 

 feet in length, and about three inches in circumference. 

 Those of hide are made of cows' and sheep's hides mixed 

 together. The hide of the sheep, after being cut into 

 narrow slips, is platted over with a broader slip of cow's 



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