MAY 1901. 



FLOWERY May ! Well, not exactly. To us here this month 

 generally spells fish, and is looked forward to as a pleasant 

 change from the usual regime. It may probably surprise 

 many to learn that though planted here, right in the centre 

 of the fishing grounds, our table for the greater part of the 

 year is " fishless " ; for, unlike Mahomet and the mountain, 

 the fish must come to us, even to our very door for from 

 our doorway the most of our fish are caught, save an occasional 

 one taken with rod and line from the deep pools left on the 

 Rock by the receding tide. The catching of fish from one's 

 doorstep will be easily understood when it is known that a 

 stumble from our door at full tide means a sheer fall of fifteen 

 feet into two or three fathoms of water. A stay fixed in the 

 doorway, with its outer end attached to the landing-slip fifty 

 feet from the tower, carries a weighted pulley, to which is 

 attached the fishing line, while pending from the pulley is the 

 snid and hook. The pulley is carried to the extremity of 

 the stay by its own momentum, and is hauled back by means 

 of the fishing line. The most of our fly-fishing is carried 

 on with this apparatus, our largest catches being generally 

 in the fall and consisting principally of poddlies, with an 

 occasional lithe or cod. Strangers often ask why we do not 

 keep a boat here; it might almost as reasonably be asked 

 why we don't keep a cow. Simply because we have not the 

 necessary accommodation that is, unless one could be devised 

 with the properties of a limpet, and be none the worse for 

 several hours' immersion every tide. Besides, our Commis- 

 sioners have decreed that it would not be advisable, as the 

 temptation to wander might end in our being cast away, and 

 the possible result of the Rock being left even for one night 

 without its customary warning light might be too horrible to 

 contemplate. 



