The Qtiee7i of the Islands 



watercourses were given a new lease of life as the flood water 

 hurried seaward. Many solans, occupied in their fishing, 

 passed and repassed Ernisgeir, for the herring is often 

 plentiful here, and even if it should be absent the mackerel 

 takes its place, and to the solan it is little inferior to the 

 herring. It was not until evening that the wind came, a 

 strong breeze from the west; but the rain still fell and the 

 hills remained inscrutable beyond the soft barrier of the mists. 



Another midsummer's day on which I visited the island 

 brought with it "steady weather," as they say in the High- 

 lands. A strong breeze from the east drew sharply down 

 Loch Scridain, blowing through Glen More from the big 

 hills. But an east wind of a morning is the sign of fair 

 weather, and thus we set sail from the sandy shores of 

 lona with good heart. Our course took us past the disused 

 quarries of the finest granite, and past green grassy islands 

 above which sea swallows wheeled and skimmed gracefully. 

 The ebb tide was strong against us, and after a time the 

 w^ind dropped, so that the rowing of a heavy boat through 

 waters still ruffled by a short sea, or "jabble," as the boat- 

 man termed it, was no light task. Even the sea air was 

 warm this day, and at times the sun shone, though away 

 eastward heavy clouds were gathering high above the hills 

 as though betokening thunder. 



It was after midday when Ernisgeir was reached and 

 a landing made on its rocky shores. On this day the 

 puffins had not come out to scrutinize the boat — I expect 

 the noise of the motor had aroused their curiosity on the 

 previous occasion — but as they saw that intruders were 

 about to set foot on their nesting haunt they swarmed 

 excitedly around them. With them, and wheeling and dip- 

 ping gracefully on their long, slender wings, were numbers 

 of Manx shearwaters, and on the sea there swam buoy- 

 antly a few plump black guillemots, handsome in their 

 black plumage with that small conspicuous patch of white 

 on either wing, and their red legs. 



79 



