MUNSTEE. 435 



Britisli Islands by an abyss 8,000 feet in depth, almost appears as if it were tbe 

 remnant of a land wbicH at one time rose above the sea. Heaps of shells have been 

 discovered upon it, and even vast beds of fish bones, which can only have accu- 

 mulated on a beach subsequently submerged by a subsidence of the land. Shoals 

 of fishes sport around Rockall; but its distance from the land, and the rude 

 tempests of the Northern Atlantic, have until recently prevented the visits of 

 fishermen. Since 1860, however, Scotch fishermen have learned to appreciate the 

 importance of this " California " lying close to their doors, and they now frequent 

 this bank, supplying London and other British markets with live cod. From 

 this period that rock and the banks around it have formed part of the British 

 Islands, not perhaps politically, but as a foraging ground. 



