266 
DESPERATE LEAP. 
ditions without any companion to hold the rope or 
assist them. It was on such a solitary excursion, 
that a man, having fastened his rope to a stake 
on the top, let himself down far below; and, in his 
ardour for collecting birds and eggs, followed the 
course of a ledge, beneath a mass of overhanging 
rock: unfortunately he had omitted to take the 
usual precaution of tying the rope round his body, 
but held it carelessly in his hand ; when, in a luck- 
less moment, as he was busily engaged in pillaging 
a nest, it slipped from his grasp, and, after swinging 
backwards and forwards three or four times, without 
coming within reach, at last became stationary over 
the ledge of the projecting rock, leaving the bird- 
catcher apparently without a chance of escape, — for 
to ascend the precipice without a rope was impossible, 
and none were near to hear his cries, or afford him 
help. What was to be done? Death stared him in 
the face. After a few minutes* pause, he made up 
his mind. By a desperate leap he might regain the 
rope, but if he failed, and, at the distance at which 
it hung, the chances were against him, his fate was 
certain, amidst the pointed crags ready to receive 
him, over which the waves were dashing far, far, 
below. Collecting, therefore, all his strength, with 
outstretched arms, he sprang from the rock, and lived 
to tell the tale, — for the rope was caught ! 
The next occurred at St. Kilda ; where, amongst 
other modes of catching the sea-fowl, that of setting 
gins or nooses is adopted. They are fixed in various 
places frequented by the birds. In one of these, set 
upon a ledge, a hundred and twenty feet above the 
sea, a bird-catcher entangled his foot, and not being 
