274 BIRD -CATCHING 



the sheep, after being cut into narrow slips, is platted 

 over with a broader slip of cow's hide. Two of these 

 are then twisted together; so that the rope, when 

 untwisted, is found to consist of two parts, and each 

 of these contains a length of sheep-skin, covered 

 with cow's hide. For the best, they will ask about 

 thirteen pence a fathom, at which price they sell 

 them to each other. 



So valuable are these ropes, that one of them 

 forms the marriage portion of a St. Kilda girl; and, 

 to this secluded people, to whom monied wealth is 

 little known, an article on which, often life itself, 

 and all its comforts, more or less depends, is far 

 beyond gold and jewels. 



The favourite resort for sea- fowl, particularly the 

 oily Fulmars, is a tremendous precipice, about thir- 

 teen hundred feet high, formed by the abrupt termi- 

 nation of Conachan, the most elevated hill in the 

 island, and supposed to be the loftiest precipitous 

 face of rock in Britain. 



How fearful 



And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low ! 

 The Crows and Choughs, that wing the midway air, 

 Show scarce so gross as beetles ; half-way down 

 Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade ! 

 Methinks he seems no bigger than his head : 

 The fishermen that walk upon the beach 

 Appear like mice ; and yon tall anchoring bark 3 

 Diminished to her cock ; her cock, a buoy, 

 Almost too small for sight : the murmuring surge, 

 That on the unnumbered idle pebbles chafes, 

 Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more ; 

 Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight 

 Topple down headlong. 



