It's six months since his last visit in 1835, and Richard Henry Dana describes again tossing cow hides over the cliff to the shipmen below in Two Years Before the Mast.
Some of the hides get stuck on the cliff, but the Captain gets a percentage of every hide, so someone's got to repel down and dislodge them. Ultimately Dana himself dangles his way down the cliff using the halyard rope from the main mast.
I got down in safety, pretty well covered with dirt; and for my pains was told, "What a d---d fool you were to risk your life for half a dozen hides!"
