THE SKUA GULL. 30Q 



Jacobson's account of Feroe fowlers. 



" Some rocks are so difficult, that they can in 

 no manner get unto them from below; where- 

 fore they seek to come down thereunto from 

 above. For this purpose they have a rope, 

 eighty or a hundred fathoms long, made of hemp, 

 and three inches thick. The fowler maketh the 

 end of this fast about his waist, and between his 

 legs, so that he can sit thereon; and is thus let 

 down, with the fowling staff in his hand. Six 

 men hold by the rope, and let him easily down, 

 laying a large piece of wood on the brink of the 

 rock, upon which the rope glieleth, that it may 

 not be worn to pieces by the hard and rough 

 edge of the stone. They have besides, another 

 small line that is fastened to the fowler's body; 

 on which he pulleth, to give them notice how 

 they should let down the great rope, either lower 

 or higher; or to hold still, that he may stay in 

 the place whereunto he is come. Here the man 

 is in great danger, because of the stones that are 

 loosened from the cliff, by the swinging of the 

 rope, and he cannot avoid them. To remedy 

 this, in some measure, he hath usually on his 

 head a seaman's thick and shaggy cap, which 

 defends him from the blows of the stones, if they 

 be not too big; but if they are, which is fre- 

 quently the case, it costeth him his life: never- 

 theless, they continually put themselves in that 

 danger for the wretched body's food sake, hop- 

 ing in God's mercy and protection, unto which 

 the greatest part of them devoutly ^recommend 



