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THE CONDOR 
| VOL. VII 
the beach in rapid succession. Granting we could reach the smooth water beyond 
the high-rolling surf, the boat was then too heavy to hoist to a ledge high enough 
above the tide line to protect it from the lashing waves. The first difficulty we 
met, finally, by making two trips in succession with our equipment wrapped in 
water-tight bags. The second difficulty we overcame by taking a block and 
tackle and raising the boat to a ledge twelve feet above the water. 
THREE ARCH ROCKS FROM SHORE 
Our enterprise involved theilanding upon a rocky shelf at the foot of a precip- 
itious cliff in mid-ocean. It was necessary to wait until conditions were favorable 
to have a reasonable possibility of success. We expected to get on the rocks, 
when we caught a calm spell. We hoped to get off before our provisions were 
all gone. 
We pitched our 4x7 tent on the beach 
among the drift, opposite the big rocks. 
Although it was the latter part of June, 
the sea winds were cold and the rain 
continuous. Occasionally, the sun 
would break from the clouds for a day 
and raise our hopes by diminishing the 
size of the rollers, but this was sure to 
be followed by a sou’w'ester that 
brought a steady pour of drizzling rain 
and lashed the white-caps as high as 
ever. We were wet half the time but 
didn’t seem to catch cold. We soon got 
into a sort of amphibian state, where a 
condition of water-soak seemed part of 
our normal environment. When it rained all day, we sometimes went to bed and 
slept our clothes dry. It rains a good nine months out of the year and one of the 
natives said “it was a little apt to be showery the other three”. 
For sixteen days we lay in camp, while the waves throbbed incessantly night 
and day like the pulse of a living world. Often, we lay awake at night feeling 
the rain beat on the canvas and listening to the wind, trying to imagine the growl 
IN CAMP ON ARCH ROCK 
Courtesy of The Pacific Monthly 
