382 Mr. A. Newton on Mr. J. Wolley*s Researches 
“ cannot be reckoned at more than a sixteenth part of the 
skerryand this only at the two landing-places ; “ further 
upwards he does not betake himself, on account of his Sightless¬ 
ness.^ The writer then goes on to speak of the extreme danger 
of landing on account of the surf, saying that to go there is to 
place life and death on an even chance; and after mentioning 
the report, which is even now current, that a successful expedi¬ 
tion to the skerry was equally profitable with a summer’s hiring 
of two hundred fishes* value in the north country, and citing the 
statement from the Maldaga, to which I have before referred, 
concludes with Sir Hallkiell’s couplet mentioned above. Besides 
this, there are appended two foot-notes. In the first, the writer 
says that in the year 1732, after a lapse of seventy-five years, the 
skerry was visited, and two huts, three birchen staffs about two 
ells long, and some withered human bones, were found thereon; 
adding, by way of comment, that three men had been known to 
have supported themselves on the rock by eating sun-dried birds, 
and drinking rotten eggs for half a month before they were taken 
off. The second note gives a very accurate description of the 
Gare-fowl and its peculiarities, including its eggs, which the 
writer describes as if he had been an enthusiastic oologist, 
though he considers it worthy of remark that he has known 
Danes give eight to ten fishes * for an empty blown egg/* the 
climax being the apostrophe “ Rara avis in terris \ ” Not the 
least singular part of the manuscript is an inserted leaf, on which 
is drawn a very quaint sketch of the skerry. Two boats are seen, 
anchored with large stones, according to the Icelandic custom 
still prevalent. In one of these are seated three, and in the other 
two men, waiting the return of three comrades, who are on the 
rock, hunting what appear to be Gare-fowls, of which upwards of 
sixty are represented. 
Now, it has been above stated that in 1732 expeditions to the 
skerry were resumed after being long discontinued, and, in con- 
* I much regret not being able to give, in explanation of this and the 
passage mentioned a few lines above, the worth of a fish at the period 
when I suppose this manuscript to have been written. It was, and in the 
secluded parts of the country still is, the unit of the Icelandic currency, 
but, of course, a unit of very variable value. 
