506 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



Below " the beucli " the rock descends almost vertically to a depth of 

 120 feet beneath the sea, this combiuation of deep water and smooth, 

 perpendicular rock offering no obstacle to chafe the sea into breaking, 

 so that with southerly winds, as at the time of our visit, the swell merely 

 rises and falls along the wall of rock. 



With northerly winds this landing of course is impracticable, and 

 boats then seek a more precarious spot near Gannet Head, on the south- 

 west, where Stuvitz seems to have landed in 1841. 



Once on " the bench " it is an easy matter to reach the summit of the 

 island, either by scrambling directly up the face of the rock or by an 

 easier but more circuitous path, if path it can be called, leading from 

 the fissure in which " the bench " ends. 



While the height of Funk Island is put down on the chart at 46 feet, 

 it certainly looks to be much higher, whether seen from the deck of a 

 vessel or viewed from the eastern bluffs. 



The entire eastern end of the island is very precipitous, as is also the 

 southwestern extremity, but on the northwest and along a lesser 

 portion of the southern side the rock slopes gradually into the sea, and 

 it was here that the Great Auk scrambled through the breakers to 

 meet its fate. 



The greatest length of the island from east-northeast to west-south- 

 west is about half a mile, its breadth a quarter, these distances being 

 set down in the sailing directions as 800 and 400 yards. 



Lying respectively 600 and 1,200 yards off the western point are two 

 small, rounded islets, so low that they must be completely washed over 

 in rough weather, and consequently untenable as breeding places. 



Two faults, deepened by time into shallow valleys, divide the island 

 into three ridges running nearly east and west. The northern and 

 central of these are bare rock, for the most part smoothed and rounded 

 by rain and ice, although here and there the decomposition of the feld- 

 spar has formed curious, overhanging ledges, especially toward the 

 eastern end. 



In these depressions are numerous pools of brackish water, the more 

 extensive — interspersed with patches that may be dignified by the 

 name of marsh — lying along the line of the southernmost fault, which 

 terminates in a small, natural amphitheater, floored with pebbles. 



Growing amidst these pebbles were patches of a blue-flowering weed, 

 around which white butterflies (Pieris) were sufflciently numerous to 

 indicate that they were regular inhabitants of the island. 



Indian Gulch, the eastern termination of the northern fault, opens 

 into this amphitheater from the sea by a narrow cleft, into which the 

 swell rushes in a seething torrent of foam, emphasizing the remark of 

 the sailing directions that " at all times the scend of the sea would 

 make it unsafe for a boat in such narrow waters." 



A large portion of the southern and most extensive swell of rock is 



