BIRD- CA TCH1NG. 4 1 1 



pointed uninhabited spot, called Rockall), in the midst of 

 the Atlantic Ocean, containing a few people, who, from 

 infancy accustomed to precipices, drop from crag to crag as 

 fearlessly as the birds themselves. Their great dependence 

 is upon ropes of two sorts — one made of hides, the other 

 of hair of cows' tails, all of the same thickness. The former 

 are the most ancient, and still continue in the greatest 

 esteem, as being stronger, and less liable to wear away, or 

 be cut by rubbing against the sharp edges of rocks. These 

 ropes are of various lengths, from ninety to a hundred and 

 twenty and nearly two hundred feet in length, and about 

 three inches in circumference. Those of hide are made of 

 cows' and sheep's hides mixed together. The hide of the 

 sheep, after being cut into narrow slips, is platted over with 

 a broader slip of cow's hide. Two of these are then twisted 

 together ; so that the rope, when untwisted, is found to con- 

 sist of two parts, and each of these contains a length of sheep- 

 skin, covered with cow's hide. For the best they will ask 

 about thirteen pence a fathom, at which price they sell them 

 to each other. 



So valuable are these ropes, that one of them forms the mar- 

 riage portion of a St. Kilda girl ; and to this secluded people, 

 to whom moneyed wealth is little known, an article on which 

 often life itself, and all its comforts, more or less depend, is 

 far beyond gold and jewels. 



The favourite resort for sea-fowl, particularly the oily Ful- 

 mars, is a tremendous precipice, about thirteen hundred feet 

 high, formed by the abrupt termination of Conachan, the most 

 elevated hill in the island, and supposed to be the loftiest 

 precipitous face of rock in Britain. 



1 ' How fearful 

 And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low ! 

 The Crows and Choughs, that wing the midway air, 

 Show scarce so gross as beetles ; half-way down 

 Hangs one that gathers samphire ; dreadful trade ! 

 Methinks he seems no bigger than his head : 

 The fishermen that walk upon the beach 

 Appear like mice ; and yon tall anchoring bark, 

 Diminished to her cock ; her cock, a buoy, 



