BASINGSTOKE BASS ROCK. 



275 



nected with it. The most important manufactures 

 are those of serge and inferior broad cloth, besides 

 some of patent lace, which employ about 800 per- 

 sons ; there are also tanyards, a paper-mill, an iron 

 foundery, and extensive works for the manufacture 

 of pottery, bricks, and tiles. Fishing nets, which 

 are woven in a loom, are also made here. Lead 

 ore has been found in the neighbourhood, and lime- 

 stone is abundant. The weekly market is held on 

 Friday, and is celebrated for extensive dealings in 

 corn and provisions. Population in 1801, 3748; 

 in 1821, 5079; in 1831, 6840; in 1841, 10,259. 



BASINGSTOKE; a market-town in the 

 county of Hants, distant from London forty-five 

 miles W. S. W., on the road to Exeter by Salis- 

 bury. It is situated near the source of the small 

 river Loddon. It consists of several streets, paved 

 and lighted, well supplied with water, and contain- 

 ing some neat and well-built houses. It possesses 

 a handsome market-house, over which is a town- 

 hall, in which the petty sessions and the various 

 meetings of the magistrates are held. Races are 

 held here annually in September. The principal 

 business carried on here is the trade in corn and 

 malt, which is conducted to a considerable extent. 

 and is facilitated in a great degree by the situation 

 of the town at the junction of five important roads, 

 and also by the Basingstoke canal which extends 

 to the river Wey in Surrey, and thus communicat- 

 ing with the Thames, opens a passage to London. 

 This canal was completed in 1796, at an expense 

 of 180,000. In 1821, 365 families were returned 

 as employed here in various trades and manufac- 

 tures, of whom the majority were engaged in that 

 of druggets and shalloons, but this branch of manu- 

 facture has declined considerably of late years. 

 The market-day is Wednesday. Population in 

 1S41, 4066.. 



BASS-ROCK; an island rock, consisting of 

 green-stone and trap tuff, situated at the mouth of 

 the Frith of Forth, at the distance of about a mile 

 and a half from the coast of East Lothian, long. 2 

 15' W. lat. 56 3i N. It is a mile in circumference, 

 and rises precipitously more than 400 feet above 

 the level of the sea, the depth of the water at its 

 base being from thirty to forty fathoms. It can 

 be approached with safety only in fine weather, 

 and is inaccessible on all sides except to the south- 

 west, where one narrow passage may be ascended 

 with difficulty. Near this passage is a castle, now 

 in ruins, but once a place of great strength, con- 

 sisting of four square towers and connecting works. 

 During the persecution of the Covenanters, in the 

 rrigns of Charles II. and James II., this castle was 

 made a state prison, and many unhappy Whigs and 

 recusants were confined in it, some of whom per- 

 ished under the hardships and privations which 

 tliey were made to undergo. At the revolution, 

 when the Stuarts were driven from the throne, a 

 party of King James's adherents kept possession 

 of the rock, and obstinately defended it for several 

 years against the new dynasty. Being in posses- 

 sion of a boat, which they hoisted upon the rock, 

 out of the reach of attack, and let down at plea- 

 sure, they supported themselves by making pirati- 

 cal attacks on passing craft ; they had also some 

 resources in the rock itself, which, besides a foun- 

 tain of water, and innumerable sea-fowl, furnishes 

 pasturage sufficient for the maintenance of a few 

 sheep and a rabbit-warren. The boat, however, 

 was at last seized, and the party was obliged to 

 surrender, the Bass-rock being thus the last piece 



of British ground which yielded up the claims of 

 the Stuart family. After this, the castle and its 

 fortifications were dismantled. 



The base of the rock is perforated completely 

 through from east to west by a natural cavern fear- 

 fully dark in the centre, and through which the 

 sea frequently dashes and roars with astounding 

 violence, but which may be examined at low water 

 on a calm day. When the tide is out, the water 

 remaining in this curious fissure, at a few yards 

 from its mouth, is not more than knee-deep. The 

 young fishermen often go through it though its 

 aspect is exceedingly terrific. At one of the en- 

 trances to this cavern it appears as if the Bass 

 were composed of two immense rocks, the larger 

 of which leans diagonally against the smaller, leav- 

 ing this narrow chasm between them at the bottom, 

 but closely joining with each other at all other 

 points. There are several other caverns of con- 

 siderable length, the openings into which resemble 

 fretted Gothic windows or doors that have been 

 made to deviate from the perpendicular by time or 

 violence. 



The Bass is now the property of Sir Hew Dal- 

 rymple Hamilton of North Berwick. The sea-fowl 

 (particularly gannet or solan geese) which resort 

 to it during the breeding season are innumerable. 

 For the privilege of killing the fowl, the rock is 

 rented at about 30 annually ; it also draws about 

 10 as a pasturage for sheep. In Scotland, not 

 including the far off Hebrides, solan geese only fre- 

 quent the Bass and Ailsa Craig, a rock in the Frith 

 of Clyde very similar to the Bass. They regularly 

 arrive, year after year, at the end of February or 

 beginning of March. At first a small flight is seen 

 to wheel round the rock, and then alight on its 

 precipitous sides with the most clamorous screams; 

 these are soon followed by other flights, each more 

 numerous than that which preceded it, and in a 

 very few days after the arrival of the scouts and 

 vanguard, the whole of the migratory colony is 

 assembled, and no more stragglers are seen to 

 arrive. They generally leave the Bass in parties, 

 as they came, towards the end of October, though.,, 

 occasionally, when the winter is mild and fish 

 abundant in the surrounding sea, they forego their 

 journey to distant parts of the world, and stay 

 there the whole year round. They lay several 

 eggs each, but only sit upon one, which they hatch 

 on the face of the bare rock. Their season of in- 

 cubation is in June and July, when the cliffs literally 

 seem covered with their snow-white plumage. A 

 curious method is used by the fishermen in the neigh- 

 bourhood to catch them : they take a small wooden 

 plank, which is sunk a little below the surface ot 

 the sea by means of a stone or a piece of lead ; on 

 this plank they put a herring, and then drag the 

 plank after them by a long rope, which leaves the 

 trap considerably astern of the boat. The bird, 

 attracted by the sight of its favourite food, wheels 

 two or three times in the air, and then plunges 

 down with such rapidity, that it often transfixes 

 the plank with its bill, and is almost invariably 

 stunned or killed by the shock. But, of course, 

 their largest numbers are taken in the usual way, 

 by descending the rock, attached to ropes, and 

 killing them on their seats. 



The plumage of the Solan geese, which is beauti- 

 fully white and soft, is sold to upholsterers and 

 others, who employ it in making feather-beds. 

 Their flesh has a strong, fishy flavour, but is yet 

 relished by some. 



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