Where the rocks can be approached from the sea, a boat lands two men on some projecting ledge. Their only aid is a long pole terminating in a hook, and the rope by which they are tied together. One, using his hands and feet, proceeds to climb up the cliff to some higher ledge, while his comrade fixing the hook firmly in his leathern belt, pushes from below till the point is reached. He himself is then pulled upward, by the rope, till both stand together. Continuing this perilous journey, they often ascend to a height of five or six hundred feet above the sea. Here the birds are so tame that they have but to put forth their hand to catch them, and the work of destruction begins. As fast as killed, they are thrown into the sea and picked up by the boat’s crew in waiting below. Sometimes when the weather is fair, the men spend several days on the cliff, sleeping at night on some broad ledge.
When the cliff cannot be reached in this way, it is common for a man to be lowered over the face of the rock by a rope, as is shown in the picture. Hanging thus in mid-air, with the ocean roaring a thousand feet below and the sea-birds flying wildly about him, a single mistake, or often a moment’s hesitation, would cause his certain death, and a cool head alone can be trusted at this perilous work.
It is said that an ancient law of Norway required that when a man fell in this way, his nearest relative should at once take the position in which the dead man was. If he could keep it in safety, Christian burial was allowed the body, but if he refused to undertake it, death was considered the result of recklessness, and the dead man was considered a suicide.
CHAPTER II.
THE EDGE OF A PACK.
Barren as are the arctic lands, the arctic ocean far exceeds them in desolation. In the winter it is in many parts frozen solidly over to a depth of nine feet, forming a level plain stretching as far as the eye can reach. But this is generally the case only in land-locked bays, or in places where surrounding hills give shelter from the furious gales that sweep over the dreary waters. More often the open sea is one mass of enormous cakes, tossing and grinding against one another in the wildest way. The huge ice floes, driven by the wind or by currents, strike against one another with fearful force, hurling great masses high in the air. Woe to the unfortunate ship that is caught in such a rough embrace. Her oaken timbers are crushed like egg shells. It has happened that a ship thus caught, has been lifted bodily, by the ice coming slowly together, out of the water and laid neatly upon it, and the sailors have been forced to saw the ice about her, so as to launch her again from this sudden and unexpected dry dock.