178 president's address. 



Chapel Tower and "Churn." The Chapel was erected in 

 1370, and restored in 1848. Its condition is one of neglect. 

 Through its roof the sky can be seen, and part of its stained 

 glass is lying on the masonry of the lower part of the windows. 

 We were told no service has been held here for about three 

 years. A valuable oak chest has also of recent years been 

 removed. Prior Castell's Tower, which was erected about 

 1500 for defence, and used in the reign of EHzabeth as a fort, 

 was explored, but it has lost much of its interest in conse- 

 quence of the removal a few years ago of its panelling of old 

 oak-carving which came from Durham. We were told this 

 can now be seen in a comparatively modern residence at 

 Monks House on the Mainland. The sea was too calm for 

 us to observe the " Churn " in its activity, but it is said that 

 water is forced through this narrow channel and rises into the 

 air to a distance of 100 feet. I have seen the " Churn" work- 

 ing several times in rough weather, but I estimated the water 

 never rose more than 30 feet from the rock. The great Whin 

 Sill forms the bulk of these Islands, and in places vertical 

 sections of the basaltic sheet show fine columnar jointing. 

 This is particularly noticeable on the west and south sides of 

 the main island, and where the rock attains an altitude of 

 about 80 feet. I have not counted the number of rocks or 

 islands, but I believe it is quite accurate to state they are 15 

 to 25 according to the tide. Over the basalt of the Fame we 

 observed a bed of boulder clay. 



The donkey on the Island has a great liking for beer and 

 tobacco. We had no beer to give him, but cigarettes he 

 chewed up greedily. 



We next visited the Knoxes, but our stay was very limited, 

 as the Watchers have instructions that eggs won't hatch if 

 left by the parent birds for more than 15 minutes. There 

 were several nests of the Arctic or Common Tern, probably 

 the former, as I think as a rule the eggs of this bird are 

 slightly smaller, more pear-shaped, more olive in their tints, 

 and show greater variety. The nests contained one, two, and 

 three eggs each, mostly two. They showed great variation in 



