4-4-° 



convenient place- where he can (land Cure, and hold himfelf faft, whilft the other 

 goeth about thefe dangerous places 5 if it then happen that he chanceth to fall, the 

 other that ftands firm keeps him up, and helps him up again : But if he pafleth fate he 

 ^ikewife faftneth himfelf till the other hath paffed that dangerous place 5 and fo they 

 go about the Clifts after Birds as they pleafe ; though it often hapneth, the more is 

 thepitty, that when the one doth not (land faft, or is not flrong enough to holdup 

 the other in his fall, that they both fall down and kill themfelves 5 in which manner 

 fome do perifh every year. 



Mr.P^erC/^zzinhisdefcriptionofNw^^ writeth, that there was anciently a 

 Law in the Country that whofoever climbed fo on the Clifts, that he fell down and 

 died, if the body was found to be buried, his next Kinfman Ihould go the fame way • 

 but ifhedurft or could not do it,the dead was not then to be buried in Sanctified earth' 

 as one that had been too full of temerity, and was his own bane. But there is found' 

 nothing of that Law now adays. 



When they then are come, in the manner aforefaid, to the birds, within the Clifts 

 where they feldom come, the Birds are fo tame that they can take them with their 

 hands, for they will hardly leave their young ones 3 but where they are wild, they 

 either call the Net over them on the Clift 5 and againft ihofe that either fly from 

 thence or thereunto, they oppofe the Fowling Staff with its Net, and intangle them 

 therein. In which manner they take a great multitude of Lnmmfves, Dam, and 

 Lundes. In the mean time there lieth a Boat beneath on the Sea, wherein they caft 

 their Birds killed 3 and in this manner they can in a fhort time fill a Boat with Fowl. 

 When it is pretty fair weather and there is good Fowling, the Fowlers flay in the 

 Clifts feven or eight days together, for there are here and there holes in the Rocks, 

 where they can fafely reft, and they have meat let down to them with a line from the' 

 top of the Mountain. In the mean time fome go every day to them to fetch home 

 what they have taken. 



Some Rocks are fo difficult, that they can in no manner get unto them from below, 

 wherefore they feek to come down thereunto from above, which they call to Sie, and' 

 is the fecond manner to purfue birds, being performed in this manner: They have a 

 Rope eighty or a hundred Fathoms long, and three Fingers thick,the Fowler maketh 

 the end thereof faft about his Wafte, and between his Legs, fo that he can fit there- 

 on, and thus is let down, with the Fowling Staff in his hand 3 fix men hold by the 

 Rope and let him eafiiy down, laying a piece of wood on the brink -of the Rock, up- 

 on which the Rope glideth, that it may not be worn to pieces by the hard and rough 

 edge of theftone : They have befides another fmall line that is faftned to the Fowlers 

 body, on which he pulleth, to give them notice how they fhould let down the great 

 Rope, either lower or higher, or to hold (till, that he may flay in the place whereun- 

 to he is come 5 here the man is in great danger, becaufe of the Stones that are loofened 

 from the Clift by (winging of the Rope, which often fall upon his head, and he can- 

 not avoid it, wherefore he hath ufually on his head a Sea mans Cap, that is thick and 

 very fhaggy, to defend him in fome meafurefrom the blows of the Stones, if they be 

 not too big, otherwife it cofteth him hislife. They put neverthelefs themfelves con- 

 tinually in that danger, for our wretched bodiesfoods fake, hoping in Cods mercy and 

 protection, unto which the mod part of them do alfo devoutly recommend themfelves, 

 when they go to that work. Otherwife they lay there is no other great danger in it) 

 but that in it felfitisa toilfom and artificial labour; for he that hath not learned to 

 be fo let down, and is not ufed thereunto, is turned about with the Rope, fo that he 

 groweth giddy and troubled in his head, and can do nothing, but he that hath learn- 

 ed the art takethh for a fport, knowing how to fwing himfelf on the Rope, to fet his 

 feet againft the Rock, calling himfelf fome fathoms from thence, whence he fhooteth 

 himfelf again to what place he will, andknoweth where the Birds are; he knoweth 

 alfo to fit on the line in the Air, and how to hold the fowling Staff in his hand, taking 

 therewith the birds that come, or fly away, and when there are holes in the Rock, 

 anditftretchethitfelf out, making underneath as a fieling, under which the birds 

 are, he knoweth skilfully (which is the greateftart ) to (hoot himfelf a great way 

 from the Clift, and fwiftly to fwing himfelf under the roof, and there take footing, 

 making himfelf, when he is in thefe holes, loofe of the great Rope, which he fallens to a 

 (tone of the Rock, that it may not flip from him to the outfide of the Clift 3 and then he 

 goeth about in the Rock, taking the Fowl either with his hands, or with the Fowling 

 Staff; according to the manner aforefaid; and when he hath killed as many Birds as 

 he thinketh fit, he ties them in a bundle, and faftneth them to the little Rope, giving a 



