IN THE HIGHLANDS 89 



the shore is a storehouse where the feathers and cloth 

 and wool, etc., are kept. The factor also keeps a small 

 supply of meal, planks, and coals there, and the elder 

 has the key. Not far from the store are the manse and 

 the church, both of which are built with stone and slated. 

 The former is always kept locked during the factor's 

 absence, and he inhabits it during his visits. The church 

 is a plain building, probably thirty feet by eighteen feet, 

 and in it we slept on hay and ate our meals. The famous 

 Dr. Macdonald of Feristosh visited St. Kilda four times. 

 His first visit was in 1822, when he remained eighteen 

 days. I believe it was through his instrumentality 

 that the church and manse were built, but being erected 

 before the Disruption, they belonged to the Established 

 Church. The Kev. Neil Mackenzie was minister there 

 for fourteen years, and left, I think, in 1843. Since then 

 there has been no regular pastor, but the Breadalbane 

 yacht with a Free Church minister generally visits them 

 for a few days once every summer. Neither have they 

 any schoolmaster just now, but aU can read Gaelic except 

 the younger children, and they have a little library of 

 all the Gaelic books, which are circulated among them. 

 They told me they assembled in the church for worship 

 every evening of the week excepting Saturdays and 

 Mondays, and met on the Sabbath before breakfast and 

 in the evening. 



** Though the people are far from large and robust- 

 looking, yet they informed us that they were very healthy, 

 and were not subject to any of the great diseases of the 

 Long Island or the mainland. There did not appear to 

 be any abject poverty or scarcity of food amongst them. 



