41 
prey, renders the attempt much more 
hazardous. 
In Foula they drive a small stake or 
dagger in the soil at the top of the pre¬ 
cipice, to which they fasten a fishing line. 
By this slender assistance they descend 
to the place where the nests are, which 
they plunder, and ascend again with 
amazing intrepidity. This manner of 
fowling was, by the Norwegian law, con¬ 
sidered a species of suicide. 
What is still more extraordinary, cus¬ 
tom has so hardened the Shetlanders 
against a sense of danger, that they will 
wander among the rocks at night, in order 
to surprise the old fowl upon the nests. 
The eggs and young of the black 
backed and herring gulls, compose the 
chief part of the booty acquired in these 
predatory and desperate attempts. 
The seas* abound with cod, turbot, 
* Divitia eis sunt a mart, ab omni parte summa pi&° 
etilndi commoditate objecta . BucL lib. 1. § BO, 
