Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1970, Page 148

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Gannet Catching in the Hebrides
Temple of Sulaisgeir«. It is slightly different in constuction
from the fowlers’ huts, mainly in having two doorways and a
horizontal slab of stone in the roof.
The gannetry, which occupies both the easily accessible ridge
and the ledges of the cliff face, lies about three hundred yards
from the huts, in the southern section of the rock. The fowlers
seem to refer to the gannets generally as »the birds« — na
h-eoin. This apparent avoidance of the ordinary Gaelic name
sulaire may be based on a tabu (cf. W. B. Lockwood Noa
Terms of the Gaelic Fishermen in Scottish Gaelic Studies, Vol.
XI p. 85 ff.) but curiously enough it does not apply to the
name of the young gannet — guga — which is freely used. It
is quite possible, of course, that the use of na h-eoin merely
indicates the importance of the gannets as the object of the
entire operation. On the other hand, if guga is an onomatopoeic
word — it is generally connected with Gaelic gugail, »clucking,
cackling« — it may itself be based upon a tabu.
Before the fishing boat leaves Sulaisgeir, a number of young
gannets are caught and killed. These are taken away by the
crew and by any local men who have gone out with the
fowlers to help to land supplies but who do not stay on the
rock. Such birds will be eaten fresh. It is only after all the
supplies have been made secure, however, that systematic
killing begins.
The birds are killed by a sharp blow on the head with a
wooden club. They are then decapitated to let the blood run.
If this is not done immediately the flesh becomes tainted and
the bird is regarded as unsuitable for eating. The young gannets
on the ridge of the skerry are easily caught, but those on the
ledges of the cliff face can only be reached by a roped descent.
The ledges are worked by two men, a pair to each ledge.
The fowler who catches the gannets is roped round the middle.
Besides being responsible for his companion’s safety, the man
at the top of the cliff takes the birds as they are passed up.
The gannets on the ledges are caught with a wooden pole,
about fifteen feet in length. A recent invention by one of the