106 THE OCEAN. 
Atlantic, dashing against them for ages with un- 
broken fury, had undermined their solid foundations, 
and worn for themselves numerous passages, leaving 
only columnar rocks of vast height, detatched from 
one another, though of similar formation and con- 
struction. Such a rock is the Holm of Noss, appa- 
rently severed from the Isle of Noss, from which it 
is about a hundred feet distant; but the cliffs are 
of stupendous height, and far below, in the narrow 
gorge, the raging sea boils and foams, so that the 
beholder can searcely look downward without horror. 
But stern necessity impels men to enterprises, from 
which the boldest would otherwise shrink: to obtain 
a scanty supply of coarse food for himself and family, 
the hardy inhabitant of the Orkneys dares even the 
terrors of the Holm of Noss. In a small boat, with 
a companion or two, he seeks the base of the cliff; 
and leaving them below, he fearlessly climbs the pre- 
cipice, and gains the summit. <A thin stratum of 
earth is found on the top, into which he drives some 
strong stakes; and having descended and performed 
the same operation on the opposite cliff, he stretches 
a rope from one to the other, and tightly fastens it. 
On this rope a sort of basket, called a cradle, is 
made to traverse, and the adventurous islander now 
commits himself to the frail car, and suspended 
between sea and sky, hauls himself backward and 
forward by means of a line. And do you ask what 
prize can tempt man to incur such fearful hazard, 
lavish of his life? It is the eggs and young of a sea- 
bird, the fishy taste and oily smell of whose flesh 
would present little gratification to any whose senses 
