Rockall, 67 
however desirable such might be, both for saving life and 
serving as a meteorological station. A cable would 
have to be laid, with all proper connections, to the nearest 
land in Scotland; and to do so safely, a careful series of 
soundings and samples of the bottom would have to be made 
and reported upon. Such might be undertaken by private 
enterprise, or it might be done by the Northern Lighthouse 
Board, or otherwise by a Government expedition. 
Meanwhile I have endeavoured, since the date of the 
issue of my volume on the Outer Hebrides, to ascertain as 
much more as possible from fishermen and others who have 
landed or been in its vicinity. 
The materials at my disposal to date are :— 
Information obtained by me when in Ferdée in the 
summer of 1894, which I detail further on as nearly as 
possible in the words of the several narrators, and jotted 
down immediately on the spot. 
Information obtained with the assistance of Mr John 
Cordeaux of Great Cdtes, Lincolnshire, by interviewing 
various smack-owners and fishermen of Grimsby, which IL 
also propose to give in detail. 
Other information received—if still indefinite—seems to 
agree at all points regarding the numbers and considerable 
variety of the birds which are found upon the rock. : 
To secure more certain data, when in Ferée in 1894 
I made the best arrangements possible to have the rock 
landed upon, and every obtainable specimen brought home 
in 1895. I trust my endeavour may meet with success. 
Both Fxrée smacksmen, and Grimsby owners and fishermen, 
agree as to the large number and considerable variety of 
birds seen there, on various occasions; and most of these 
men carry at least two fowling-pieces, and some also a rifle 
in their ships. 
Another point gained—if absolutely correct—is, that the 
Grimsby men agree that there 7s vegetation and plants of 
some sort on the rock (J. Cordeaux). 
The accounts of the species of birds and descriptions are, 
however, as yet too vague to make it worth while at present 
to retail them. 
