ST. KILDA AND ITS MDS. 345 



of the eggs liad rolled down into these little pools of water, 

 and had thus become lost to their owners. A single nest 

 of the Great Black-backed Gull, with three newly-hatched 

 young, occupied a flat piece of turfy ground near the top. 

 My stay on the Stack was somewhat curtailed owing to a 

 break in the weather and the setting in of steady rain. 

 The descent was a very different business to the ascent, 

 as the rain had made the rocks so slippery that progression 

 was by no means an easy matter. The first care of the 

 men when they came to a convenient place, was to transfer 

 to the boat a basket of eggs which had been collected. 

 This was effected very cleverly by fastening the basket to 

 the middle of a long rope, one end of which was held by 

 the men on the rocks, and the other by those in the boat, 

 which was tossing about in a very lively manner souie 

 30 or 40 feet below. The rope was kept very taut, and 

 the basket was gradually hauled into the boat in that way, 

 and though I fully expected to see the whole thing 

 smashed, it arrived safely at its destination with its con- 

 tents almost completely intact. The getting down the 

 last 20 or 30 feet of cliff was a ticklish business, as the 

 rocks were as slippery as glass with the rain, .and it was 

 necessary to proceed with the greatest caution. A greater 

 difficulty presented itself when we reached the bottom, 

 and that was how to get back into the boat. The swell 

 had risen so much that the surf was running up the 

 rocks some twenty feet or so at the spot where we had 

 landed, so that we could not approach the place, and had 

 to make a detour. The boat was rising and falling with 

 the swell through a distance of about a dozen feet, and it 

 required all the exertions of the men in it to prevent 

 it being stoved in against the rocks every time they 

 approached to take us off. It looked very much as if we 

 should have to adopt the last resort of the St. Kildans, 



