The eggs of many of the birds named in another page were formerly sought
after as delicious food, and considered as a great treat to the
epicurean. The price procured for them was a sufficient inducement for
the poor to follow the adventurous trade of egg-taking; but in this, as
in the pearl fishery on the coasts of Persia, the gains bear no tolerable
proportion to the danger incurred. Until the dangerous practice was
prohibited, men were employed in collecting them in the following manner.
The adventurers having furnished themselves with every necessary
implement for the business, while the sun afforded assistance by his
beams, entered on the terrific undertaking. Two—for this was a trade in
which co-partnership was absolutely necessary—took a station; and he
whose turn it happened to be, or whose superior agility rendered it
eligible, prepared for the rupestrian expedition. A strong stake was
driven into the ground, at some distance from the edge of the cliff, to
which a rope, of sufficient length to reach the lowest haunts of the
birds, was affixed. Fastening the other end round his middle, taking the
coil on his arm, and laying hold with both his hands, he threw himself
over the brow of the cliff, placing his feet against its sides, and
carefully shifting his hands, he gradually descended till he came to the
abode of the birds; then putting his hand into the hole, while suspending
himself with the other, he took possession of its contents, carefully
placing the eggs in a basket slung at his back for the purpose. Having
despoiled all the nests within his extent of rope, he ascended by the
same means to the edge of the cliff, where his partner, whose duty
hitherto was to guard the stake, crawling on hands and knees, afforded
him assistance in doubling the cliff, which otherwise he would be unable
to do. Dangerous occupation! A slip of the foot, or the hand, would in
an instant be fatal to both. Instances have occurred where the weight of
the one overcoming the strength of the other, both have been precipitated
down the craggy steep, and their mangled carcases buried in the ocean.
To a stranger and bystander, this occupation appeared more dangerous than
it really was; in persons habituated to bodily difficulty, the nervous
system became gradually braced, and the solids attained that state of
rigidity which banished irritability; while the mind, accustomed to
scenes of danger, lost that timidity which frequently led to the dreadful
disaster. To the person whose heart palpitates at the near approach to
such heights, it must appear a presumptuous venture, and daily instances
of its fatality might be expected; but facts demonstrate the contrary,
and serve to prove how much we are the creatures of habit, and to what an
extent difficulty and danger may be made subordinate to art and
perseverance. A sight of this perilous employment would remind the
beholder of that fine description—
— How fearful
And dizzy ’tis to cast one’s eyes so low!
The crows and choughs, that wing the midnight air,
Shew scarce so gross as beetles. Half-way down
Hangs one who gathers samphire;—dreadful trade.