156 THE GUILLEMOT. 
He who is to descend now puts his legs through a 
pair of hempen braces, which meet round his middle, 
and there form a waistband. At each end of this 
waistband is a loophole, through which they reeve 
the smaller rope. Sometimes an iron hook and eye 
are used in lieu of thisloop. A man now holds the 
rope firmly in his hand, and gradually lowers his 
comrade down the precipice. While he is descending 
he has hold of the other rope, which was fastened 
to the iron bar; and, with this assistance, he passes 
from ledge to ledge, and from rock to rock, picking 
up the eggs of the guillemot, and putting them into 
two bags, which he had slung across his shoulder 
ere he commenced his arduous undertaking. When 
he has filled these bags with eggs, he jerks the rope, 
and the motion informs his friend at the top that it 
is now time to draw him up. On coming up again to 
the place from whence he first set out, all the eggs 
are taken from the bags, and put into a large basket, 
prior to their being packed in hampers and carried 
off in a cart by wholesale dealers, who purchase 
them from the climbers for sixpence the score. 
At Bridlington and the neighbouring places the 
eggs are retailed at a halfpenny a piece. 
The rocks are searched for eggs every third day, 
provided the weather be fair. It requires consi- 
derable address on the part of the descending 
climber to save himself from being hit by fragments 
of the rock, which are broken off by the rope 
coming in contact with them. He avoids the danger 
by moving sidewise when the stone is falling, and 
by taking care, as he goes down, to clear away with 
his foot any portion of the rock that seems ready 
——s 
a 
_. 
