418 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1677-8; 



The chief employment of their women is to harrow the land, which they 

 must do when their husbands are climbing for fowls. 



Their ordinary way of dividing the land, is one halfpenny to every family. 

 The rocks also are divided, such and such on every halfpenny. And there is a 

 kind of officer left by the master of the island, who governs in his absence, and 

 so regulates, that the best climbers and the worst are mixed together, that so 

 none of the land be unlaboured; that is, that all the shelves of the highest rocks 

 be searched for eggs. 



The way of their climbing is thus ; they go two and two with a long rope, 

 not made of hemp, but of cow-hides salted, and the thongs cut round about, 

 and plaited six or nine fold. Each end of the rope is tied about each one of 

 their middle, and he that is foremost goes till he comes to a safe standing, the 

 other standing firm all that time to keep him up, in case his feet should have 

 slipped : when the foremost is come to a safe standing ; then the other goes, 

 either below or above him, where his business is; and so they watch time 

 about; seldom any of them being lost when this is observed. — When any couple 

 is to be married, the aforesaid officer brings them to one of their chapels, and 

 administers an oath to them ; and thus they are married. 



Their children, about the age of 15 or l6, come with the master of the isle to 

 the Hereisch island, and are there baptized. 



An ordinary way of killing the fowls in the mist is this, some of these fellows 

 lie beside the door of the little houses they have in their islands, flat upon their 

 backs, and open their breasts ; which when the fowls perceive, they perch 

 upon them, and are presently taken. And thus hundreds are killed in one 

 night. 



Observations on a Cameleon, By Dr. Jonathan Goddard, late Professor of 

 Physic at Gresham College, London.'* N° 137, p. 930. 



There is nothing of sufficient importance in this paper to justify reprinting it. 



Account of the Iron JVorks in the Forest of Dean. By Henry Powle, Esq. 



N° 137, p. 931. 



The forest of Dean, comprehending that part of Glocestershire between the 

 rivers Wye and Severn, consists generally of a stiff clay. The country is full of 

 hills, but no where high, and rarely of a steep ascent. Between them run 

 many little springs of a more brownish colour than ordinary waters, and often 

 leaving in their passage tinctures of rust. The ground is naturally inclined to 



* See N° 49, p. 369, vol. i. 



