ST. KILDA FROM WITHOUT 189 



It was once calculated by Mr. James Wilson, the 

 ornithologist, that the Solan Geese breeding in the 

 colonies of St. Kilda alone must devour every year 

 something like 214,000,000 fish. 



At eight o'clock on Sunday night the cone was still 

 up ; but as there was still but little wind, the anchor 

 was weighed and we steamed out, only to meet a 

 white fog, which crept in from the Atlantic and drove 

 us back to anchor again for another four-and-twenty 

 hours. 



At last, on Monday evening, the Butt of Lewis was 

 rounded, and the ship's course shaped for St. Kilda. 

 Eighteen hours later the anchor was dropped again in 

 smooth water, this time in Loch Roag, a land-locked 

 harbour to the north-west of Lewis, half a mile from a 

 miniature Stonehenge which crowned a neighbouring 

 slope. We had been within fifteen miles of our 

 destination, and had been forced by a freshening gale 

 to put back and run for shelter, and were not sorry 

 when we reached it. All the crockery in the ship was 

 not broken, for an excellent luncheon, with all necessary 

 plates and glasses, was soon ready for us. 



For the rest of the day it blew and rained, and next 

 morning was blowing still, with no sign of a change for 

 the better in the weather, and, as time was limited, we 

 could only bow to superior force, accept a defeat, and 

 drive the fifteen miles to Stornoway, passing halfway 

 across a lonely lake with a little island, on which a pair 

 of Great Black-backed Gulls had made their solitary 

 nest. 



