A VISIT TO ST. KILDA. 167 



open and dried, being strung across the ceilings of 

 the cottages and taken down as required. A mum- 

 mified Puffin is one of the dainties of St. Kilda. 

 It is recorded that upwards of 89,000 Puffins were 

 caught by the St. Kildans in 1876. These people 

 are also passionately fond of sweets, even to childish 

 greediness, and these were the first articles asked for 

 on our arrival ; tobacco came next. It is probably 

 owing to this bird-diet of the adult population, 

 that nearly every infant born in the island suc- 

 cumbs to what is known there as the "eight day 

 fever," usually proving fatal on the eighth day 

 after birth. " Stranger's Cold " is another peculiar 

 disease, the arrival of any visitors generally being 

 followed by a kind of influenza which spreads 

 throughout the population. Ophthalmic diseases 

 are also prevalent. 



Much has been said concerning the difficulty of 

 landing and the anchorage at St. Kilda. The only 

 place at which a landing is attempted is on the 

 rocks below the manse, and boats require the most 

 skilful management, even in the finest weather, for 

 there is always a considerable amount of surf and 

 ground swell. During the whole time of my stay 

 there was an exceptionally heavy swell; so bad, 

 in fact, that I was unable to land on any of the 



