ST. KILDA AND ITS BIRDS. 339 



prowess by accomplishing this feat may, like the story of 

 the Lovers' Stone, be dismissed as a figment of the 

 imagination, Not even all the St. Kildans, indeed, can 

 face Stack Biorraoh. There are at the present time in 

 the island only five men who have climbed it, and of these 

 only two could do it now, the others being elderly men ; 

 but from what I saw of the exploits of some of the younger 

 men, I should say that it would not be long before this 

 list was added to. Fatal climbing accidents are rare, and 

 there seems a unanimous consensus of opinion that such 

 accidents are less frequent now than in former years. The 

 last one occurred about forty years ago. As to the cause 

 of this diminution in the number of accidents, various 

 opinions have been put forward, such as the use of better 

 ropes, and the exercise of greater care. It is a fact that 

 in ancient times ropes made of plaited straw were used 

 for climbing, but the death of a man who was lost on the 

 Boreray cliffs by a rope of this sort giving way caused the 

 use of these to be discontinued. The straw ropes were 

 succeeded by others made of raw cowhide, and these in 

 turn gave way to horsehair ropes, which were in use until 

 a comparatively late period, when they were superseded 

 by Manila ropes, which are now exclusively employed. 

 No fatal accident has, however, been known to have taken 

 place owing to the giving way of a rope since the one just 

 mentioned, so that the improved quality of the ropes 

 cannot have been the main factor in the reduction in the 

 number of accidents. The natives themselves attribute 

 this diminution to the greater care exercised, and to the 

 fact that the practice of going alone to the cliffs, which 

 was formerly in vogue, has now been discontinued. 

 Whilst giving due weight to these views, I doubt if they 

 express the whole truth in the matter. I should think it 

 very probable that for several centuries a process of 



