IN ST. KILDA. 275 



Such is the beautiful description of Dover Cliff, 

 by Shakspeare ; but what would he have said, could 

 he have looked down from this precipice in St. 

 Kilda, which is nearly three times higher, and so 

 tremendous, that one who was accustomed to regard 

 such sights with indifference, dared not venture to 

 the edge of it alone ? But, held by two of the 

 islanders, lie looked over into what might be termed 

 a world of rolling mists and contending clouds. As 

 these occasionally broke and dispersed, the ocean 

 was disclosed below, but at so great a depth, that 

 even the roaring of its surf, dashing with fury 

 against the rocks, and rushing with a noise like 

 thunder, into the caverns it had formed, was un- 

 heard at this stupendous height. The brink was 

 wet and slippery, the rocks perpendicular from 

 their summit to their base ; and yet, upon this 

 treacherous surface, the St. Kilda people approached, 

 and sat upon the extreme st verge ; the youngest of 

 them even creeping down a little way from the top, 

 after eggs or birds, building in the higher range, 

 which they take in great numbers, by means of a 

 slender pole like a fishing-rod, at the end of which 

 was fixed a noose of cow-hair, stiffened at one end 

 with the feather of a Solan Goose. 



But these pranks of the young are nothing when 

 compared to the fearful feats of the older and more 

 experienced practitioners. Several ropes of hide 

 and hair are first tied together to increase the depth 

 of his descent. One extremity of these ropes, so 

 connected, is of hide, and the end is fastened, like 

 a girdle, round his waist. The. other extremity is 

 then let down the precipice, to a considerable depth, 



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