Page:History of the Royal Society.djvu/237

Rh " the Bigness of a half Pike) that is, they poise it in their Hand, then they aim the Point of it at any Piece of a Rock, upon which they intend to light (sometimes not half a Foot broad.) At their going off they clap their Feet close to the Lance, and so carry their Bodies in the Air. The Point of the Lance first comes to the Place, which breaks the Force of their Fall; then they slide gently down by the Staff, and pitch with their Feet upon the very place they first designed, and from Rock to Rock till they come to the Bottom. Their Novices sometimes break their Necks in learning.

"He added several Stories to this Effect of their great Activity in leaping down Rocks and Cliffs. And how twenty eight of them made an Escape from the Battlements of an extraordinary high Castle in the Island, when the Governor thought he had made sure of them.

"He told also (and the same was seriously confirm'd by a Spaniard) and another Canary Merchant then in the Company.) That they whistle so loud as to be heard five Miles off: And that to be in the same Room with them when they whistle, were enough to indanger breaking the Tympanum of the Ear, and added; that he (being in Company of one that whistled his loudest) could not hear perfectly for fifteen Days after, the Noise was so great.

"He affirms also, That they throw Stones with a Force almost as great as that of a Bullet, and now use Stones in all their Fights as they did anciently.

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