ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 103 



their number ; while higher up upon this portion of 

 the shore, were strewn and scattered many a fragment 

 of hull and mast, the melancholy relics of a bygone 

 wreck. As we rounded this spot (for we coasted the 

 whole distance), the imposing object which we were 

 now steadily approaching grew more defined upon the 

 ravished sight with every ridge and furrow of the water 

 through which we ploughed our way. And now this 

 mighty monument of adamantine firmness, rigid and un- 

 moved through countless ages, and witness of the ocean's 

 most impetuous vagaries, rose, as it were, from the sea 

 to the summit in one abrupt tremendous precipice. 



There is something awe-inspiring to the very soul as 

 you float in the vicinity of these dreadful spots ; and, 

 the more serene and undisturbed is the condition of the 

 sea and air, the more potently you feel the loneliness 

 and grandeur of their majestic desolation. 



The aspect of this stupendous mass of rock, as from 

 our fragile boat I gazed upon its rugged face, stretching 

 away on either hand in one vast precipitous wall, was 

 so severely grand and imposing that I feel the task of 

 conveying to another mind a due and correct idea of 

 the reality will be as difficult as it is impossible that I 

 can ever, for my own part, cease to remember the 

 -sublimity of the scene. Magnificent, indeed, as viewed 

 on this occasion from the fluctuating surface of a 

 gently-heaving sea ; but realise the same when rever- 

 berating with the full sway of ocean's wild commotion, 



