COMMON GANNET. 45 



in view; the waves run high, and all around looks dismal. See what exer- 

 tions the rowers make; it blows a hurricane, and each successive billow seems 

 destined, to overwhelm their fragile bark. My anxiety is intense, as you 

 may imagine; in the midst of my friends and the crew I watch every move- 

 ment of the boat, now balanced on the very crest of a rolling and foaming 

 wave, now sunk far into the deep trough. We see how eagerly yet calmly 

 they pull. My son stands erect, steering with a long oar, and Lincoln is 

 bailing the water which is gaining on him, for the spray ever and anon 

 dashes over the bow. But they draw near, a rope is thrown and caught, the 

 whale-boat is hauled close under our lee-board; in a moment more all are 

 safe on deck, the helm round, the schooner to, and away under bare poles 

 she scuds toward Labrador. 



Thomas Lincoln and my son were much exhausted, and the sailors 

 required a double allowance of grog. A quantity of eggs of various kinds, 

 and several birds, had been procured, for wherever sufficient room for a 

 Gannet's nest was not afforded on the rock, one or two Guillemots occupied 

 the spot, and on the ledges below, the Kittiwakes lay thick like snow-flakes. 

 The discharging of their guns produced no other effect than to cause the 

 birds killed or severely wounded to fall into the water, for the cries of the 

 countless multitudes drowned every other noise. The party had their 

 clothes smeared with the nauseous excrements of hundreds of Gannets and 

 other birds, which in shooting off from their nests caused numerous eggs to 

 fall, of which some were procured entire. The confusion on and around the 

 rock was represented as baffling all description; and as we gazed on the mass 

 now gradually fading on our sight, we all judged it well worth the while to 

 cross the ocean to see such a sight. But yet it was in some measure a painful 

 sight to me, for I had not been able to land on this great breeding-place, of 

 which, however, I here present a description given by our pilot Mr. 

 Godwin. 



"The top of the main rock is a quarter of a mile wide, from north to 

 south, but narrower in the other direction. Its elevation is estimated at 

 about four hundred feet. It stands in lat. 47° 52'. The surf beats its base 

 with great violence, unless after a long calm, and it is extremely difficult to 

 land upon it, and still more so to ascend to the top or platform. The only 

 point on which a boat may be landed lies on the south side, and the moment 

 the boat strikes it must be hauled dry on the rocks. The whole surface of the 

 upper platform is closely covered with nests, placed about two feet asunder, 

 and in such regular order that a person may see between the lines, which 

 run north and south, as if looking along the furrows of a deeply ploughed 

 field. The Labrador fishermen and others who annually visit this extraordi- 

 nary resort of the Gannets, for the purpose of procuring their flesh to bait 



