168 JOTTINGS ABOUT BIRDS. 



adjoining islands and stacks, with the exception of 

 Doon, which a few hours' comparative lull enabled 

 me to visit. The heavy seas that from time to 

 time break over St. Kilda are almost past credence ; 

 in some winters the waves are carried over shoulders 

 several hundred feet high and sweep in torrents 

 down the hillsides. During fine weather and 

 favourable winds the anchorage is excellent, but 

 should bad weather or contrary winds threaten, 

 the mariner must make all possible haste out 

 of treacherous Village Bay, or do as my friend 

 Mackenzie does, make all snug, drop another 

 anchor, and abandon his vessel to her fate, to ride 

 out the storm or go to the bottom ! 



The Robert Hadden left St. Kilda as soon as her 

 cargo was discharged, and for a week or more we 

 were as completely isolated from the civilized world 

 as if we had been in the heart of Africa far 

 without the charmed circle of Her Majesty's Post- 

 Office, and utterly removed from the telegraph 

 system. The repose of the place then became 

 thoroughly apparent, and I passed the quietest days 

 of all my life on these ocean rocks, amidst their 

 primitive people and their myriads of birds. We 

 made the two-roomed house near the shore and the 

 chapel (built for the accommodation of the Factor, 



