46 



LUNDY ISLAND. 



us, looking on the gorgeous western sky, had hope- 

 fully said, in the words of Shakespeare, 



" The weary sun hath made a golden set, 

 And, by the bright track of his glitt'ring car, 

 Gives token of a goodly day to-morrow." 



And now the morrow was come, and the promise 

 was not broken. Hope and hilarity were strong in 

 each of our minds, as we rapidly completed our slight 

 preparations for the morning's jaunt, and awaited the 

 arrival of our kind guide ; and I fear none of us were 

 able to sympathise very deeply with the sorrow of the 

 old farmer, who was bemoaning the loss of a thriving 

 young bullock, that had just been found dashed to 

 pieces at the bottom of one of the frightful precipices 

 that form the north-west edge of the island. These 

 casualties, however, are reckoned among things regular 

 and to be expected in Lundy husbandry. Some two 

 or three of the young cattle and horses are lost every 

 year from this cause. They incautiously feed close to 

 the edge, when a puff of wind catches them on the 

 broadside, and over they go ; to the no small joy of 

 the carrion-crows, who flock to the funeral feast. 



At length, away we sallied through a gate at the 

 rear of the farm, across wide, moory fields, till we 

 struck a broad road, marked off by stone posts at 

 regular intervals, each bearing conspicuously painted 

 the letters T. H. Our curiosity was excited by the 

 boundary-stones ; and we were informed that the 

 ground so marked off is the property of the Trinity 

 House, forming a road thirty feet wide, and about a 



