CHAPTER XXIX 



THE LAND OF TIREE 



SOME seventy miles north of the Irish coast, and about nine 

 miles to the north-east of Skerryvore, there lies a green 

 and fertile island, Tiree by name. 



As to the origin of the island's name much uncertainty 

 exists. The most widely held opinion is that it signifies 

 "Tir-i," or "the Land of lona," as in olden times the monks 

 were said to get most of their grain from here, and across 

 in the Ross of Mull is a district known as "Pot-i," or "the 

 Larder of lona," where the monks were wont to obtain their 

 meat. 



Another suggested meaning is "Tir-an-eorna," or "the 

 Land of Barley," and a derivation which has of late held 

 favour is "Tir Eadh," or "the Level Land." 



Unlike most of the Hebrides, this island is composed 

 mairrty of great stretches of level green pasture land lying 

 only a few feet above the height of a spring tide; and, 

 except along its south-west shores, there is none of that 

 characteristic rugged and bleak appearance which is so 

 typical of these western isles. 



There is an old saying that "only for paying two rents, 

 Tiree would yield two crops in the season," referring to 

 the extreme rapidity of growth which all cereal crops make 

 on this favoured island, where barley put into the ground 

 in the last days of May is ready for reaping by August, 

 and where the vegetables of the gardens spring up as if by 

 magic. Indeed, so fertile has the island always been, that 

 it bears for its arms a sheaf of corn. 



On Tiree the conditions, to my mind, in many ways 

 closely resemble those obtaining on the great plateaux of 



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