850 



THE BRITISH ISLES. 



five die in infancy;* but the birth rate is unusually highland the population has 

 not only not decreased since the middle of last century, but the island has even 

 dispatched a few emigrants to Australia. The Hebrides likewise difler from the 

 neighbourin<i: mainland in their sanitary condition. It is asserted by medical 

 men that natives of the Hebrides are not subject to consumption unless they 

 quit their homes and imbibe the germs of the disease elsewhere. It is believed 



Fig. 174. — Staffa: View t-iken from the top of a Cliff. 



that this immunity is due to the acrid smoke of peat which they breathe in their 

 confined cabiiis. 



Igneous rock occurs only at a single spot on the island of Lewis,t but is 

 abundant on the islands contiguous to the mainland. The finest columns of basalt 

 may be seen on the small Eigg Island, to the south of Rum. The " Scuir " of 

 ^igg (1,272 feet) presents on its sea face a row of columns 470 feet in heio-ht. 



* Geo. Seton, " St. Kilda, Past and Present." 



t For the geologj' of Scotland see Gei' ie's elaborate Map, published iu 1876. 



