r to right; these pegs correspond to the
"rungs" of a ladder.

Ladders.--A notched pole or a knotted rope makes a ladder. We hear of
people who have tied sheets together to let themselves down high walls,
when making an escape. The best way of making a long rope from sheets, is
to cut them into strips of about six inches broad, and with these to
twist a two-stranded rope, or else to plait a three-stranded one.

Descending cliffs with ropes is an art which naturalists and others have
occasion to practise. It has been reduced to a system by the inhabitants
of some rocky coasts in the Northern seas, where innumerable sea-birds go
for the breeding season, and whose ledges and crevices are crammed with
nests full of large eggs, about the end of May and the beginning of June.
They are no despicable prize to a hungry native. I am indebted to a most
devoted rock-climber, the late Mr. Woolley, for the following facts. It
appears that the whole population are rock-climbers, in the following
places:--St. Kilda, in the Hebrides; Foula Island, in Shetland; the Faroe
Islands generally; and in the Westmarver Islands off Iceland. Flamborough
Head used to be a famous place for this accomplishment, but the birds
have become far less numerous; they have been destroyed very wantonly
with shot.

In descending a cliff, two ropes are used; one a supply well-made,
many-stranded, inch rope (see "Ropes"), to which the climber is attached,
and by which he is let down; the other is a much thinner cord, left to
dangle over the cliff, and made fast to some stone or stake above. The
use of the second rope is for the climber to haul upon, when he wishes to
be pulled up. By resting a large part of his weight upon it, he makes the
task of pulling him up much more easy. He can also convey signals by
jerking it. A usual rock-climbing arrangement is shown in the sketch. One
man with a post behind him, as in fig. 1, or two men, as in fig. 2 are
entrusted with the letting down of a comrade to the depth of 100 or even
150 feet. They pass the rope either under their thighs or along their
sides, as shown in the figures. The climber is attached to the rope, as
shown in fig. 2. The band on which he sits is of worsted. A beginner
ought to be attached far more securely to the rope.

[Fig 1 and Fig 2 appear on p 45].

(I have tried several plans, and find that which is shown in Fig. 1 to be
thoroughly comfortable and secure. A stick forms the seat' at either end