JULY 190 L 



EXCESSIVE heat, coupled with an unusual continuance of fog, 

 have been the principle features of this month. The continual 

 booming of our explosive fog-signal every five minutes, night 

 and day, would be rather apt to " get on " a stranger's nerves 

 were he compelled to sleep within a few feet of it ; as a rule, 

 it does not disturb us in the least, but with such protracted 

 spells as we have had this month it does become a trifle irk- 

 some. The first shot generally sends the beads of some of the 

 window cases rattling down the traps. This has a more dis- 

 turbing effect on us when asleep than the actual shot itself, 

 of which we are just dimly conscious. 



The few boats which have been prosecuting the lobster 

 fishing here for the last three months have now abandoned 

 it. Although fairly successful at the commencement, they 

 were latterly reduced to a mere pittance. A return of four 

 lobsters for the hauling of fifty " sunks " is but a precarious 

 living. Anchored close to the Rock, in order to avoid being 

 run down by prowling trawlers, they often passed the night, 

 sleeping underneath their sails. Their cooking range, con- 

 sisting of an old metal pail with holes punched through the 

 sides, set on a stone slab, while an empty meat tin did duty 

 as kettle, fish-pan, or tea-pot, as occasion required. It is only 

 within this year or two that the Rock has again attracted 

 the attention of the lobster fisher, after a lapse of many years. 

 Prior to that time, we could always rely on an occasional 

 lobster being found in the holes on the Rock at low water ; 

 while crabs, which could be had in abundance, are now ex- 

 tremely scarce, and the lobster, as far as we are concerned, 

 might well be as extinct as the Dodo. We had rather a sur- 

 prising catch in a lobster-creel one time here. On hauling 



