DESPERATE LEAP. 415 



ardour for collecting birds and eggs, followed the course of a 

 ledge, beneath a mass of overhanging rock : unfortunately he 

 had omitted to take the usual precaution of tying the rope 

 round his body, but held it carelessly in his hand ; when, in 

 a luckless moment, as he was busily engaged in pillaging a 

 nest, it slipped from his grasp, and after swinging backwards 

 and forwards three or four times, without coming within reach, 

 at last became stationary over the ledge of the projecting rock, 

 leaving the bird-catcher apparently without a chance of escape 

 — for to ascend the precipice without a rope was impossible, 

 and none were near to hear his cries, or afford him help. What 

 was to be done ? Death stared him in the face. After a few 

 minutes' pause, he made up his mind. By a desperate leap he 

 might regain the rope, but if he failed, and, at the distance at 

 which it hung, the chances were against him, his fate was 

 certain, amidst the pointed crags ready to receive him, over 

 which the waves were dashing far, far below. Collecting, there- 

 fore, all his strength, with outstretched arms, he sprang from 

 the rock, and lived to tell the tale — for the rope was caught ! 



The next occurred at St. Kilda, where, amongst other modes 

 of catching the sea-fowl, that of setting gins or nooses is 

 adopted. They are fixed in various places frequented by the 

 birds. In one of these, set upon a ledge, a hundred and twenty 

 feet above the sea, a bird-catcher entangled his foot, and not 

 being at the moment aware of it, was, on moving onwards, 

 tripped up, and precipitated over the rock, where he hung 

 suspended. He, too, as in the preceding case, had no com- 

 panion ; and, to add to his misfortune, darkness was at hand, 

 leaving little prospect of his being discovered before morning. 

 In vain he exerted himself to bend upwards, so as to reach 

 the noose or grapple the rock. After a few fruitless efforts, 

 his strength was exhausted, and in this dreadful situation, 

 expecting, moreover, that the noose might give way every 

 instant, did he pass a long night. At early dawn, by good 

 fortune, his shouts were heard by a neighbour, who rescued 

 him from his perilous suspension.* 



* Buchanan's Hebrides. 



