IN ST. KILDA. 
435 
Atlantic Ocean, containing a few people, who, from infancy 
accustomed to precipices, drop from crag to crag as fearlessly 
as the birds themselves. Their great dependence is upon 
ropes of two sorts ; one made of hides, — the other of hair of 
cows’ tails, all of the same thickness. The former are the 
most ancient, and still continue in the greatest esteem, as 
being stronger, and less liable to wear away, or he cut by 
rubbing against the sharp edges of rocks. These ropes are 
of various lengths, from ninety to a hundred and twenty and 
nearly two hundred feet in length, and about three inches in 
circumference. Those of hide are made of cows’ and sheep’s 
hides mixed together. The hide of the sheep, after being 
cut into narrow slips, is platted over with a broader slip of 
cow’s hide. Two of these are then twisted together; so that 
the rope, when untwisted, is found to consist of two parts, 
and each of these contains a length of sheep-skin, covered 
with cow’s hide. For the best they will ask about thirteen 
pence a fathom, at which price they sell them to each 
other. 
So valuable are these ropes, that one of them forms the 
marriage portion of a St. Kilda girl; and to this secluded 
people, to whom monied wealth is little known, an article 
on which often life itself, and all its comforts, more or less 
depend, is far beyond gold and jewels. 
The favourite resort for sea-fowl, particularly the oily 
Fulmars, is a tremendous precipice, about thirteen hundred 
feet high, formed by the abrupt termination of Conachan, 
the most elevated hill in the island, and supposed to be the 
loftiest precipitous face of rock in Britain. 
. . . . . How fearful 
And dizzy ’tis, to cast one’s eyes so low ! 
The Crows and Choughs, that wing the midway air, 
Show scarce so gross as beetles ; half-way down 
Hangs one that gathers samphire ; dreadful trade ! 
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head : 
The fishermen that walk upon the beach 
Appear like mice ; and yon tall anchoring hark, 
F F 2 
