28 WITH NATURE AND A GAME h' A. 



For nine inontbs in the year the inhabitants of 

 St. Kilcla are doomed to an utter ig-norance of the 

 doings of the outer Avorkl unless some stray fishing- 

 smack should, under favourable conditions of wind 

 and tide, venture to drop in and see tliem. They 

 have, however — through the initiative of Mr. John 

 Sands, I believe— improved upon jjoor Lady Grange's 

 method of trying to communicate with friends during- 

 her eight weary years of exile in these desolate 

 regions. It is recorded tliat this unfortunate woman 



ST. KILDA MAILBOAT. 



wrapped up letter after letter with yarn in pieces 

 of cork, and consigned them to the sea in the hope 

 that some day one would be Avafted to where some 

 pitying hand would find a means of delivering her 

 from a bondage brought about through some dis- 

 agreement with her husband, Lord Grange, whose 

 friends kidnapped the unhappy lady in 1732, and, 

 after forcibly detaining her on some small IIel)ridean 

 island a while, conveyed her to St. Kilda, wliere 

 she is said to have spent a great part of her 

 time in weeping. 



When the natives now desire to send news of 

 any happenings on the island to tlieir friends, they 

 cut a (;avity in a solid piece of wood roughly 

 hewn like a boat, and, putting a small canister or 



