The Fowler's Art in St. Kilda.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 28, 15 December 1883, Page 5

The Fowler's Art in St. Kilda.

After pur \ev6e with the inhabitants, , we were, 'escorted >up the hill to see a'sj^eeimen of the fowling y ari } which is their chief occupation. ,It was ' wiihout exaggeration an " awfully interesting ?>I -sight; to see a, niidn dancing down a predipice of 500 or or 600 feet with a rope round his 1 waist, his bare feet against the rb'elt, and a wand in his' hand "with a,' horsehair 'snare at the top,, while two men, well planted on the brink 1 , above him, lowered the rope rapidly in ac- ' cordance with the directions he sang but' to them, like a cfraunt, all the way down. About' half way down he" 'stopped at" a, narrow grassy ledge and began' to poke 1 about. Then we saw him stretch down his wand aiid instantly draw it up 'again witli ' a white bird (a fulmar) fluttering tit the end of it. He M took the bird, 'stuck its head dnd neck under his" waist-belt, and did, the' same {hing'bver again to two other birds. Then he was hauled 'up, but .disengaging the I'ope from "his waist when about 100 feet from the 1 top, he made his,, way up unassisted through ivfearful chasm, ' winch, looked at from, aboVe, seemed perilous even 'for ag6at. We breathed' more freely when we saw Him' safe on 1 the grassy brink. It' was satisfactory to he^f that accidents in this "dreadf,ul trade"' are very rare, which' says much ' for the combined hardihood arid caution of those who practise it, — (" The Last Cruise of the Lively 1 ," by Sheriff Nidblsoh, in "Good. Words.") ' '