People of St. Kilda. 2057 



passed Pabbay, North Uist, and the rocks of Hasker, and till within fifteen miles of 

 St. Kilda seemed likely to make an excellent passage. Borrera, an island five miles 

 north of St. Kilda, rose majestically 1400 feet out of the sea, but a haze prevented our 

 seeing its kindred rock. Shortly after catching sight of Borrera a sudden storm over- 

 took us, and for four hours we were beaten about most helplessly. Our pilot was out 

 of his reckoning, and when everything was prepared to stand out to sea for the night 

 we unexpectedly swung into the bay of St. Kilda, just visible through the fog, and 

 cast anchor within 200 yards of its rocky iron-bound shore at four in the afternoon. 

 The whole air and sea were alive with birds ; the puffin and guillemot on that side 

 the island in the greatest abundance. Upon waking in the morning we were delighted 

 with the first clear view of this wonderful island. St. Kilda is in the shape of a half- 

 moon, three miles long by one and a half wide, great majestic rocks starting up out of 

 the sea, the highest (Conaker) 1400 feet, rivalling in height the neighbouring rock of 

 Borrera. At the entrance of the bay stands a round-shaped rock, called Levenish, and 

 the west side has the cliffs in curious shapes like pinnacles. The village gives one the 

 idea of a number of bee-hives, all thatched, with no chimneys, the smoke escaping 

 through the roof; some few have glass windows, and two or three of the commonest 

 articles of furniture, but most are very dark and dirty. The only slated buildings are 

 the manse (now deserted since Mr. Mackenzie's absence), the church and store. We 

 went ashore the next day, which was Sunday, and attended service at the church. 

 Every human being was there ; and the attention to the whole service, lasting near 

 four hours, was wonderful : even during the English service not a word was spoken, 

 neither was there any curiosity shown at our appearance among them. Their affection 

 for their minister seems very great ; and his account of them, very much corroborated 

 by what we saw, proves, that though separated by a stormy ocean from the rest of the 

 world, and visited by not more than three or four vessels in the year, they deserve the 

 credit of being the most virtuous, moral and religious people in the British Isles. All 

 the vices common to the world are unknown to them, and their minds seem perfectly 

 uncorrupted: with the exception of an occasional difference there is nothing to disturb 

 the harmony of the Kepublic, which St. Kilda most nearly resembles. They have 

 their annual parliament to debate about the rock and the fulmars : every portion is 

 most carefully divided, and lots are cast for the different portions, some being much 

 better than others. They consider it one of their first duties to provide for the widows 

 and old maids ; and their strict and regular attendance to their religious duties, in the 

 absence of their minister, is very striking. We found them hospitable, most anxious 

 to serve us, and, unlike their brethren in the mainland, we had great difficulty in per- 

 suading them to take what we considered they were entitled to for two hard days' work 

 among the cliffs and rocks. Tobacco is to them the greatest luxury, and we fortu- 

 nately had taken out several pounds of pigtail, which delighted them not a little. The 

 whole population does not exceed a hundred, and has been stationary for many years. 

 The men are fair, about the middle height, and well clothed in the homespun woollen 

 clothing of the Highlands, blue jackets and trowsers. The women are dark, many of 

 them good-looking were it not for their dirty and untidy appearance. T did not dis- 

 cover that they were long-lived. The oldest man on the island was not above 70. 

 The annual average of births and deaths is five. In the last twelve years the births 

 have been sixty-eight, deaths sixty-five. The annual average of marriages is two. 

 Last year every child born was carried off by a disease called in St. Kilda the ' eight- 

 day sickness,' which quite baffles the skill of the medical men. It is a species of 



