Our boat, as it grated on the rocky shore, startled a number of the gulls, and I saw a picture such as I had seen on many eider-holms and gull-islands. A shot from my friend’s gun thundered against the precipice. As a raging winter storm rushes through the air and breaks up the snow-laden clouds till they fall in flakes, so now it snowed living birds. One saw neither hill nor sky, nothing but an indescribable confusion. A thick cloud darkened the whole horizon, justifying the description “they hide the sun when they fly”. The north wind blew violently and the icy sea surged wildly against the foot of the cliffs, but more loudly still resounded the shrill cries of the birds, so that the truth of the last part also of Faber’s description was fully proved, “they drown the thunder of the surf when they cry”. At length the cloud sank down upon the sea, the hitherto dim outlines of Swärtholm became distinct again, and a new spectacle enchained our gaze. On the precipices there seemed to sit quite as many birds as before, and thousands were still flying up and down. A second shot scared new flocks, a second time it snowed birds down upon the sea, and still the hillsides were covered with hundreds of thousands. But on the sea, as far as the eye could reach, lay gulls like light foam-balls rocking up and down with the waves. How shall I describe the magnificent spectacle? Shall I say that the sea had woven millions and millions of bright pearls into her dark wave-robe? Or shall I compare the gulls to stars; and the ocean to the dome of heaven? I know not; but I know that I have seen nothing more gorgeous even on the sea. And as if the charm were not already great enough, the midnight sun, erewhile clouded over, suddenly shed its rosy light over promontory and sea and birds, lighting up every wave-crest as if a golden, wide-meshed net had been thrown over the water, and making the rose-tinted dazzling gulls appear more brilliant than before. We stood speechless at the sight! And we, with all our company, even the sailors of our boat, remained motionless for a long, long time, deeply moved by the wonderful picture before us, till at last one of us broke the silence, and, rather to recover himself through the sound of his own voice than to express his inner feeling, softly uttered the poet’s words: