50 = Mr John MacGillivray on the Island of St Kilda. 
islands, I shall confine my observations to the principal and 
largest one. 
Hirt or St Kilda, is about two miles and a half long from 
east to west, one mile at its greatest breadth, and nearly 
six in cireumference. Roughly speaking, the island may 
be said to be one great mountain of irregular construction, 
with perpendicular sides descending to the sea, and forming 
precipices varying in height from 50 to nearly 1300 feet. 
Some idea of the rugged nature of the coast may be formed 
from the circumstance of there being but a single land- 
ing-place, accessible only in fine weather or during particu- 
lar winds. It consists of a flat shelving rock near the up- 
per part of a small bay on the eastern side of the island, where 
also is a narrow beach. The surface of the island varies from 
bare rock, covered in many places with loose blocks of stone, 
which have accumulated in the hollows, and left their debris 
upon the slopes, to a green carpet of the finest turf. Among 
the hills, in several places, valleys are formed, one being of 
considerable size, and descending for more than a mile, with 
a gradual slope towards the sea. The sea-margin of St Kilda 
is certainly among the most striking examples of the grandest 
rock scenery of the British isles, perhaps of the whole globe. 
No less than four of the promontories are perforated, and as 
many large caverns are formed, through which the sea passes. 
Considering the immense height of the mural precipices, it is 
no wonder that the St Kilda Isles are clearly visible from a 
very great distance, for they may be distinctly seen from near 
the level of the sea, when 60 miles distant. Itis then indeed — 
a glorious sight, while walking on the sandy beach cf some 
green island, to watch the last rays of the setting sun, as he 
slowly sinks upon the ocean, lighting up with dazzling splen- 
dour the far distant St Kilda Isles, which, it has been no less 
truly than poetically observed, one may almost fancy some 
huge volcano newly emerged from the deep, or the unconquer- 
able barriers of some enchanted land. 
There are several springs in St Kilda never dried up, even 
during the hottest summer months. The water is extremely 
pure, though certainly not entitled to the extravagant encomi- 
