278 DESPERATE LEAP. 



ditions without any companion to hold the rope or 

 assist them. It was on such a solitary excursion, 

 that a man, having fastened his rope to a stake 

 on the top, let himself down far below; and, in his 

 ardour for collecting birds and eggs, followed the 

 course of a ledge, beneath a mass of overhanging 

 rock : unfortunately he had omitted to take the 

 usual precaution of tying the rope round his body, 

 but held it carelessly in his hand; when, in a luck- 

 less moment, as he was busily engaged in pillaging 

 a nest, it slipped from his grasp, and after swinging 

 backwards and forwards three or four times, without 

 coming within reach, at last became stationary over 

 the ledge of the projecting rock, leaving the bird- 

 catcher apparently without a chance of escape, for 

 to ascend the precipice without a rope was impossible, 

 and none were near to hear his cries, or afford him 

 help. What was to be done ? Death stared him in 

 the face. After a few minutes' pause, he made up 

 his mind. By a desperate leap he might regain the 

 rope, but if he failed, and, at the distance at which 

 it hung, the chances were against him, his fate was 

 certain, amidst the pointed crags ready to receive 

 him, over which the waves were dashing far, far, 

 below. Collecting, therefore, all his strength, with 

 outstretched arms, he sprang from the rock, and lived 

 to tell the tale for the rope was caught ! 



The next occurred at St. Kilda; where, amongst 

 other modes of catching the sea-fowl, that of setting 

 gins or nooses is adopted. They are fixed in various 

 places frequented by the birds. In one of these, set 

 upon a leclge, a hundred and twenty feet above the 

 sea, a bird-catcher entangled his foot, and not being 



