ROUGH PLAYMATES. 



201 



" Hallo there, my hearties ! " calls another, " where'ye 

 off to ? — making for the tail end of the island ? — well, 

 it's trae, we don't get much of a chance there this morning 

 — but look here, tell you what ! bet you three to one, 

 we'll get you with the back- wash." 



And so wave after wave goes by. Each one, as it comes 

 roaring on, seems full of conversation and personality — 

 some are tricky, some merely boisterous, some really 

 spiteful, others dignified and majestic — rolling, rolling 

 along, with quiet irresistible, forceful strength, disdainful 

 of all fuss and splutter. 



When we were on the yacht it looked a very little way to 

 the island — now, from the level of the water, the distance 

 looks twice what it did; and it is a long time before we 

 seem to make much progress. All things have an 

 end, however, even for an impatient ornithologist crossing 

 an angry sea ; and at last we are safely across the nasty 

 looking belt of broken water, which we have been 

 gradually nearing, where the tide is sluicing and rushing 

 and boiling in a seething race. And then we find our- 

 selves in comparatively smooth water, under the lee of 

 the south-west corner of the island. The noise and 

 turmoil of the white horses die away astern and we begin 

 to take things rather more easily. 



How different the rocks look from here, with their 

 bold, frowning masses of granite, rising pile upon pile 

 far above our heads, and seemiag to defy us to attempt 

 to land. How much more vegetation, too, there really 

 is, than appeared from the yacht — dense tangles of cactus 

 and agave with here and there clumps of low trees. 



But now the most ticklish part of our task is before 

 us, and we coast round the end of the island, looking 

 for a likely spot to land on. 



Just a year before (February 1st, 1907), all but a month, 

 we landed here with the greatest ease, stepping quietly 

 out of the boat on to the rocks ; but to-day the swell is 

 surging over the shelf which runs along the base of the 

 almost precipitous cliffs, and falling back in cataracts 



