PP]RCE AND BONAVENTURB 135 



out, the Rock is the prominent feature of the coast 

 line. It dominates its surroundings as a snow- 

 capped mountain rules its dependent ranges. To 

 the bird lover it possesses a double fascination, and 

 one is constantly attracted by the ceaseless cries 

 of the throng of hovering birds, who in some inde- 

 scribable way seem to invest their home with a sense 

 of the charm, the freedom, the wildness of a sea- 

 bird's life. It is a true bird rock ; man has no part 

 in it. 



At sunset this bond between the Rock and its 

 inhabitants seemed especially strong and real. 

 Through a notch in the western hills the last rays 

 of the sun fell squarely upon the Rock, illuminating 

 it and the ever-present soaring Gulls after the land 

 and the sea were in shadow. Slowly the light left 

 the Rock, until it, too, was of the same gray-blue as 

 its surroundings ; then, like the beams from a search- 

 light, it struck the circling mass of Gulls, making 

 them seem a flurry of snowflakes descending into 

 the gloom below. 



The pilgrim to Perctj Rock will find tliat the 

 object of his journey 7iot only exceeds in grandeur 

 his brightest imagination of it, but he will be fur- 

 ther rewarded by discovering Perci^ itself and the 

 country round about to be of exceptional interest 

 and beauty. It was the season of codfishing, and 

 every morning a fleet of a hundred or more stanch 

 little iDoats, each with two men, put out intti the bay 

 for a day's fishing. Their return, late in the after- 

 noon, was an eventful part of the day. Then the 

 beach was the center of attraction as boat after boat 

 came in, the men depositing their catcli on the sands. 



