117 77/ X.irrHE AXI) A CAMKHA. 



The inaiTied women arc distiiiguislied from the 

 iinnuirried ones by a wliite frill wliicli is worn in 

 iVoiit of tlie liead-sliawl or handkerchief and serves 

 the part of a wcddinii- riiii^-, which is unknown in 

 St. Kilda. 



As illustrative of the love of iiiuuh-coloured 



apparel existent amongst 

 tlie women of this lonely 

 isle, Seton says, " When 

 the Rev. Neil Mackenzie 

 Avent to St. Kilda in 

 LS-'iO, his servant-maid, a 

 native, asked permission 

 to take the hearth-rug to 

 church by Avay of a 

 shawl. Regarding- her 

 ])roposal as a joke he 

 innocently assented, and 

 to his intinite astonish- 

 ment he beheld the girl 

 in his own pew enveloped 

 in the many - coloured 

 carpet, the envied of an 

 admiring congregation ! 

 All the w^omen in the 

 island were eager candi- 

 dates for the '■ shawl ' 

 on th(! following morning, some of them offering 

 to giv(; ten l)irds for its use.'' 



Side bv side with nuu-h tliat was picturcs(|ue 

 and deliglitful in its primitive simplicity, we came 

 across things of appalling UKxh'rnity : sucli as a 

 wonum weai'ing a Piccadilh' fringe, a piec(> of l)arbe(l- 

 wire stretched round tlie minist(M-'s gai'den, and a 

 youth s])orting a dickx . It is w<»ii(h'rl'nl to think 

 that within the coulincs of tlie I>ritisli Ish's on the 



IRON LAMP 



