We never left the shore, and came without any
disaster to the cavern, which we found rugged and misshapen, about
one hundred and eighty feet long, thirty wide in the broadest part,
and in the loftiest, as we guessed, about thirty high.
It was now
dry, but at high water the sea rises in it near six feet. Here I
saw what I had never seen before, limpets and mussels in their
natural state. But, as a new testimony to the veracity of common
fame, here was no echo to be heard.
We then walked through a natural arch in the rock, which might have
pleased us by its novelty, had the stones, which incumbered our
feet, given us leisure to consider it. We were shown the gummy
seed of the kelp, that fastens itself to a stone, from which it
grows into a strong stalk.
In our return, we found a little boy upon the point of rock,
catching with his angle, a supper for the family. We rowed up to
him, and borrowed his rod, with which Mr. Boswell caught a cuddy.
The cuddy is a fish of which I know not the philosophical name. It
is not much bigger than a gudgeon, but is of great use in these
Islands, as it affords the lower people both food, and oil for
their lamps. Cuddies are so abundant, at sometimes of the year,
that they are caught like whitebait in the Thames, only by dipping
a basket and drawing it back.
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