PASSAGE TO DTJGURTH. 9? 



surpassing grandeur was presented. We were surrounded 

 on every side by an amphitheatre of bold and endless hills, 

 except where the opening to the Atlantic showed us the 

 dark waters of a boundless ocean the surface was clear 

 and undisturbed and the light breeze rippled the long and 

 measured undulations from the sea, and bore us gently towards 

 the island. The bay was filled with mackerel, and consequently 

 it was crowded with sea-fowl. In clamorous groups the 

 gulls were darting on the fish below, and an endless variety 

 of puffins and cormorants were incessant in pursuit of the 

 smaller fry, which had attracted the shoals of mackerel 

 from the deep. But the wind was too scanty, and the 

 hooker's sailing not sufficiently fast, to allow us to kill fish 

 in any quantity. We occasionally, however, caught a 

 mackerel, and shot among a number of water-fowls a beau- 

 tiful specimen of the sea-hawk, which I shall endeavour to 

 preserve.* 



We had gradually neared Dugurth, which is the only spot 

 on which for many miles a boat, even in moderate weather, 

 can safely effect a landing, when a galley stood out of Elly bay 

 and bore down upon us. Our courses nearly crossed : they 

 were running off the wind, we close-hauled as possible. No- 

 thing could be more picturesque than the light and elegant 

 appearance of this " fairy frigate." At a little distance she 

 seemed a cloud of canvass flitting across the sea, for the 

 long low hull was not visible until her close approach re- 

 vealed it. Her large lugs and topsails where of the whitest 

 duck, and as all her sails drew, light as the breeze was, she 



* Large birds should be carefully skinned, the head, tail, and feet, 

 left entire ; the skin may then be either put into a vessel of spirits, or 

 rubbed well on the inside with the following mixture : One pound of 

 salt, four ounces of alum, and two ounces of pepper, pounded together. 

 Small birds may he thus treated. Take out the entrails, open a passage 

 to the brain, which should be scooped out through the mouth, introduce 

 into the cavities of the skull, and the whole body, some of the above 

 mixture, putting it also through the gullet and entire length of the neck. 

 Hang the bird in a cool airy place, first by the feet, that the body may 

 be impregnated by the salt, and afterwards by a thread through the under 

 mandible of the bill, till it appears to be sweet, then expose it in the sun, 

 or near a fire ; after it is well dried, clean out what remains loose of the 

 xx>ixtiire, and fill the cavity of the body with wool, oakum, or any soft 

 ubstance. 



