172 REMINISCENCES OF 



catching an exploit which he failed to achieve. Much 

 to our delight, just as we came within a few yards 

 of it, and our man was making his preparations for 

 knocking the innocent little creature on the head, it 

 slipped from the rock, went under our boat into deep 

 water, and did not reappear until it was beyond the 

 reach of danger. I almost thought I saw the little 

 animal give its would-be capturer something uncom- 

 monly like a wink of derision as it escaped his hands. 

 After this, it became obvious the man was wholly 

 unequal to the task he had undertaken ; so we com- 

 pelled him to put us on shore, and we walked the 

 rest of the way to our destination. Soon after our 

 arrival, we saw Mr. Wunsch descending a mountain 

 path to meet us, he having come by way of Loch 

 Ranza; and we were soon at work exploring our 

 fossil forest. 



Quite near our forest was a narrow strip of flat 

 ground running parallel with the shore, but a few 

 yards above the reach of the tides. Part of this was 

 converted into a small field of barley ; the remainder 

 was a pleasant bit of greensward, on which 

 roamed a number of varied farmyard inhabi- 

 tants, whilst in the centre was planted our tiny 

 shepherd's hut, apparently the only building with a 

 roof on it within many miles. Behind the house 

 arose rapidly the fine range of hills running north- 

 wards towards Loch Ranza and westward into the 

 centre of the island. After an hour or two of hard 

 work, hunger drove us to look after our lodgings and 



