264 THE BASS ROCK. 



the best cliffraan that ever descended the Bass. Upon one 

 occasion he was searching above, and one of his uncles in 

 the boat below ; a very small pebble was dislodged near 

 the top, and struck the uncle upon his thick sea-hat. It 

 cut through the hat, stuck into his skull, and, before they 

 could row ashore, he had nearly bled to death. The geese 

 are sometimes maimed in the same way. 



Ada'ms, the renter of the Bass, is very dexterous in the 

 management of the ropes above ; which considerably 

 lessens the risk of descent. There are regular periods in 

 the year for this perilous work. The first search takes 

 place at the beginning of summer, to gath'er the eggs of 

 the guillemots, kittiwakes, &c. ; and another in August, to 

 collect the young gannets, which are stripped of their 

 down, and then sold in the Edinburgh and other markets 

 for sixpence apiece. The eggs of the gulls and kittiwakes 

 are excellent ; but those of the guillemots, razor-bills, and 

 puffins, are rank-tasted. 



I was amused to see the high mark they set upon the 

 "purple geese," or those which have speckled backs, in 

 consequence of not having quite shed the brown feathers. 

 They are about three years old, and the beauty of the bird 

 is in exact ratio to the brown spots on its back. For my 

 part, I thought the pure white much handsomer. To 

 please the old boatman, I shot a " purple," as well as a 

 snowy specimen to stuff, and another pure white bird for 

 his feathers, to dress sea-flies. They are superior for this 

 purpose even to those of a swan. 



Numbers of gannets flitted past with billfuls of decayed 



