Boisterous weather prevailing for the greater part of this month, we have been closely confined to the house. Our connection with the amphibia being so extremely remote completely disqualifies us from enjoying our usual “constitutional,” the grating, even at low water, being occasionally swept by the heavy seas. Our winter boarders, the eider ducks, have been reinforced, on the morning of the 14th--somewhat later than usual--by the arrival of a flock of long-tailed ducks. These, with the eiders, will keep us company till April again calls their attention to domestic affairs. Our relief, which was due on the night of the 11th, was effected just in time; had it been delayed another day a “missed relief” would probably have been recorded. The morning after brought a severe north-easterly gale, which precluded all possibility of making a landing during the three succeeding days. That is usually the time allotted by the steamer in the attempt. Should she fail to make a landing on the third day, we are abandoned for another fortnight, minus the time engaged in the attempt. As our stock of fresh provisions is generally consumed by the time the relief is due, a missed relief means a fortnight’s _regime_ of “hard tack” and “beef embalmed,” of which during the winter months we have a three months’ reserve stock on hand in case of such emergencies. Fortunately, this is not of common occurrence; during the past six years but three reliefs have been missed, and only one in the preceding ten. This speaks much for the ability and skill of those concerned in the handling of the boats, for during the winter months the landings were until recently effected in darkness, and an exciting scene it was to see the two boats buffeting their way through the foaming channels, with jutting rocks so close on either side that an oar’s length deviation would entail serious disaster. A powerful searchlight has of recent years been added to the equipment of the relieving steamer, and is of much advantage in the guidance of the boats, though it has the peculiarity of grossly exaggerating the tempestuous appearance of the sea. The sea, which on the evening of the relief was comparatively calm, was the next day rolling down on us like a solid wall, and viewed from the balcony in all its magnificent grandeur what a puny, frail, unstable structure our habitation seemed in comparison. Each succeeding wave seemed imbued with the sole motive of accomplishing our destruction, and as they struck and sliced away on either side in two mighty crescents of hissing foam, blinded our kitchen windows seventy feet above the rock. Clashing together again to leeward with a roar, as if incensed at our stubborn resistance, they drive their way furiously along the remaining portion of the reef in foam-capped ridges, and where the cross seas meet them the spray is flung high in the air from their points of intersection. The appearance of the reef at this stage, as