72 A HUNDRED YEARS 



dark, a herring-net weighted with stones at the bottom 

 was let down from the top of the rocks over the cave's 

 mouth. By lifting the net our boat glided in. We were 

 armed with two short, stiff fishing-rods, and carried a 

 big pot of burning peats and splinters of resinous bog-fir, 

 which lighted up the cave. To make the pigeons fly 

 out of the innermost recesses, we flung burning peats 

 from time to time in as far as we could, which made a 

 fresh batch of birds fly out against the net. Oh, the 

 excitement of it as we whacked away at them flying 

 round and round the big cave ! The pigeons had a 

 good sporting chance of escape, for the net could never 

 be made to fit the inequalities in the edge of the cave, 

 and we were quite contented if we got from twenty to 

 twenty-five birds. To add to the excitement there were 

 generally several shags (cormorants) roosting in the 

 cave besides the pigeons, and we always did our best to 

 get them, though they very soon found out that their 

 safety consisted, not in fluttering up against the net 

 like the pigeons, but in taking a header into the water 

 and escaping to the ocean by diving under the net. 



In 1851 my mother, who was always fond of showing 

 me everything, planned a little tour in Normandy, 

 finishing up with Paris, and this was a real joy. It 

 was mostly done in diligences ; we generally had the 

 coupe, while Sim Eachainn (Simon Hector), the butler, 

 swore at the beggars in Gaelic from the banquette. 

 What an amount of delicious greengages and pears I 

 consumed on that journey ! The only drawback to the 

 trip was the remarks of rude little French boys, who, 



