CHAPTER XIV 



THE QUEEN OF THE ISLANDS 



WEST of the rocky headland that stands, dark and weather- 

 beaten, between Loch Scridain and Loch nan Ceall, is a 

 small rocky islet, Ernisgeir by name. During the season 

 of their nesting, sea-birds in their thousands populate the 

 island; at other times no living thing is met with here 

 save perhaps a grey seal on passage to his breeding 

 groundls, or a green cormorant resting awhile from his 

 fishing. Even during days of summer calm when the 

 Atlantic, to all appearances, is quiet as a loch, the swell 

 breaks in white cascades on the island, and in the winter, 

 with the passing of a south-westerly gale, the sea here 

 is a grand sight as the great rollers cast themselves against 

 the island, the spray enveloping even the highest parts of 

 the rocks. Small and unpretentious as it is, and hidden 

 away in obscurity, the islet is, nevertheless, known to 

 the old people as "the Queen of the Islands," and the 

 following tradition explains the origin of the name thus 

 chosen. 



It is said that the Lord of the Isles wishing the hand 

 in marriage of the daughter of MacLean of Coll, the latter 

 would consent only on the understanding that the Lord 

 of the Isles should give his future wife as her dowry 

 "Little Ernisgeir and all her islands," or, as the Gaelic 

 puts it, "Ernisgeir bheag 's a'cuid eileanan." A small 

 request seemingly, and one to which the suitor readily 

 agreed. But when the marriage settlement came to be 

 demanded, a claim was made for all the neighbouring 

 islands, including the whole of Mull, since there were no 

 small islands in the neighbourhood of Ernisgeir. Hence it 



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