LETTERS FROM THE RET. G. H. NOBBS. 307 
period, when another sad and awful bereavement 
fell upon the community. Daniel M'Coy and 
his wife went to the north-west side of the island 
in quest of fish. After descending to the rocks, 
Daniel left his wife, and re-ascended, with the 
intention of passing the head of a small inlet of 
the sea, and then going down to the rocks on 
the other side. While doing so, he fell ; and his 
wife saw him fall*, but there was the before- 
mentioned inlet between them, into which a 
very heavy surf was running; to avoid which 
Daniel had gone round the head of the bight ; 
and it was in the act of descending to the shore, 
on the other side, that he fell. His wife without 
hesitation plunged into the heavy surf (which 
she had unfortunately persuaded her husband to 
avoid), and, landing on the opposite side of the 
inlet, found him on the rugged lava of the shore, 
a corpse ! She had the presence of mind, pre- 
vious to her braving the foam-crested billows, 
to call a lad at some distance fishing,, and 
despatch him to the village with the sad tidings 
that Daniel had fallen; but she did not then 
know the extent of his hurt. Less than half an 
hour previous, he had left her with a smile on 
his countenance, for Daniel was always in a 
cheerful mood. What must have been the poor 
creature's agony as she sat by her dead husband, 
with his head resting in her lap, for more than 
an hour ere any one could get to her assistance! 
Her feelings I will not attempt to describe ; but . 
I will tell you what she did. On finding life 
extinct, she knelt down, and prayed that God 
would give her grace so to live that she might 
