TAKING THYME. 55 



when one of our party thought to obtain a little assist- 

 ance by grasping a tuft of thyme which the busy 

 insect had appropriated. " Take your time," said the 

 Captain. " I have not gained much by taking thyme," 

 grumbled E. , holding up his smarting finger. 



A more efficient help was afforded by the angular 

 projections of the solid rock, which occurred here and 

 there, and, in one portion of the descent, by the sides 

 of a watercourse, which, though the roughness of the 

 way was increased by the rolled masses lying loosely 

 in it, was less perilous than the open declivity. 



Sad witnesses to the power of the winds and waves 

 were lying in our way; .for we saw, at a considerable 

 height above the bottom, the blocks and ironwork of 

 some ill-fated vessel, so firmly jammed into the crevi- 

 ces of the rock as to resist all efforts to dislodge them, 

 without more labour than they were worth. These, 

 as the Captain told us, were the relics of a fishing- 

 smack that was driven on the rocks below, of whose 

 hapless crew not one survived to tell the story. 



Behold us then collected at the bottom, or as near 

 to it as we were destined to go ; for, though it was 

 spring-tide, and the hour of low-water, no beach 

 appeared, but the clear transparent sea was washing 

 the foot of the cliff. On a narrow slanting ledge, 

 some eight or ten feet above the water-line, we were 

 all perched in a row, like so many guillemots ; and 

 there we had quietly to remain till some needful pre- 

 liminaries were adjusted. We now perceived the use 

 of the ladder, which was not at all intended, as some 



