Many theories have been advanced as to the orig-in of tin; inliabitants of this loiu^v rock, and a curious tradition exists as to its acquisition l)y members of the outside world. Tlu) inliabitants of Harris and Uist agreed to make it the prize for a boat race, and accordinglv set out to row across the intervening waste of Avaters. So (Mjually nuitchcd were the crews in regard to pluck and (Midui'ance that they arrived at 8t. Kilda almost at the same moment. Tin; Uist men, howeA^cn^, led by a fcAV strcjkes, and hopes of Avinning ran high amongst

ENTRANCE TO UNDERGROUND DWELLING,

them when Colla MacLeod, the cltief of the Harris gang, cliopped his left liaiul off and flunii- it ashore over the heads of his competitors, and secured St. Kilda and its satellites to himself and his descendants for all time. ^ly friend Mackenzie says that the progenitors of the St. Kildans were undoubtedly transported from Skye by the Chief of ^lacLeod for various offences, and in evidence of this

|)oints out that

whenever there is a row in that island the re-storers of peace will still threaten to send the dis-turbers to St. Kilda. Further, that mothers say to their children ST. KILDA BROOCH. when they are troublesome, " If you don't be quiet, I'll send you to St. Kilda," just as a Lancashire dame will terrify her unruly offspring by threatening them with the bogie man.

The order of things in St. Kilda is sometimes a good deal reversed. T^or instance, the men make all the women's clothes, whilst their future wearers dig the potato-beds or pull dock-leaves for tlu^ cows. As a result of this, the dresses are neither i'asliiou-ably made nor very close-fitting. 1 saw one )'oung woman in church with her frock skirt hung upon her hips by tlu^ aid of a large French nail, the head and an inch oi- so of which protruded awkwardly from the material it was pinning together.

This, however, did not al)ate my respect for the woman one jot, as I would infinitely rather see a member of the fair sex with her attire stuck full of French nails than one decorated with birds' wing's. The younger women wear hats and bonnets whilst in church, but the elder ones still adhere to the picturesque, many-coloured handkerchief and shawl over their shoulders. I was considerably struck by the Ijrooches with which they fasten their shawls. These are of two sorts — one, a large copper ring, said to be made from an old penny beaten out, and the other consisting simply of a ship's brass washer, with a wire pin attached to it. In both cases the sides of the shawl to be fastened are pulled through the ring and then transfixed by the pin. I was much puzzled by seeing the women tramping about amongst the grass in the enclosure round the Yillaore bare-foot and bare-leo- with their skirts tucked up to their knees, pulling dock leaves. It turned out upon inquiry that the cows refuse to be milked unless they are being fed the while with this weed. Poor women of St. Kilda! theirs is a hard lot. They shoulder an immense load of dock leaves which they carry up the tremendously steep hill separating the Village from the Glen, where the cows are milked, and often fetch back an equally great load of turf in addition to their buckets of milk. They also milk a number of ewes on the island, but although we tried every device to get them to allow my brother to photograph them in the act we failed. They would not permit this to be done for love or money, under the impression that people who saw the picture would laugh at them.

-^p^^^^

UNMARRIED WOMAN.

MARRIED WOMAN.

The married women are distinguished from the unmarried ones by a white frill which is worn in front of the head-shawl or handkerchief and serves the part of a wedding ring, which is unknown in St. Kilda.

As illustrative of the love of gaudy-coloured apparel existent amongst the women of this lonely isle, Seton says, “When the Rev. Neil Mackenzie went to St. Kilda in 1830, his servant-maid, a native, asked permission to take the hearth-rug to church by way of a shawl. Regarding her proposal as a joke he innocently assented, and to his infinite astonishment he beheld the girl in his own pew enveloped in the many-coloured carpet, the envied of an admiring congregation! All the women in the island were eager candidates for the ‘shawl’ on the following morning, some of them offering to give ten birds for its use.”

IRON LAMP

Side by side with much that was picturesque and delightful in its primitive simplicity, we came across things of appalling modernity: such as a woman wearing a Piccadilly fringe, a piece of barbed-wire stretched round the minister’s garden, and a youth sporting a dicky. It is wonderful to think that within the confines of the British Isles on the

eve of the twentieth century, it is still possiljle to find a man sittinjj;- on Friday night in a rude senii-undergTound house lighted only by the primitive stone lamp of his forefathers of prehistoric times; and still more so, perhaps, to reflect that the same man may on the following Sunday so far link the distant past with the present as to be sitting in church with a dicky and tie on, and a co})y of the Bible printed in Gaelic on a book-rest before him. Yet such is the case. When the St. Kildans go to Borrera to pluck the sheep or catch birds, they stay in a semi- I shall describe hereafterunderground hut—which a lamp of the Stone Age still in use.—containing illumin- We were able to trace the history of ation at St. Kilda with a fair degree of completeness. First of all we saw the stone lamp on Borrera, then an iron one from which the illustration on p. 22 was made, and lastly a cheap paraftin abomination which, when alight, considerably increased the horrors of darkness. Its small, foul smellino- flame was burning dimly within a smoke-blackened globe unrestricted by anything in the nature of a chinuiey. We noticed that the natives were fearfully inquisitive, but scrupulously honest. Martin, who visited the "lone isle" just two hundred years ago, says that the inhabitants "use swimming and diving, and are very expert in both." To-day, according to Mackenzie, not a single man or woman enters the water unless it be by accident. He relates that when he first began to visit the l^lace as factor, he went down to the Bay one mornino: to have a swim. So unusual was the sight that the entire population rushed down to the beach to watch him. This led to an extremely

awkward situation, for the women squatted them-solves down beside his clothes. He swam round and round for a while in the hope that their curiosit^' wouhl ere long be satisfied, and that thev would then return to their household duties. Not a bit of it. The sight of a man performing the part of a fish was far too entertaining a business-to be regarded with indifference, and they sat on enchanted until he swam close in and told them to-go away.

Mr. Fiddes, the minister, told me that the temperature of the sea round 8t. Kilda is lower in summer than in winter, on acc(junt of the icebergs^ that become detached in Polar regions and drift southwards into the Gulf Stream. He also informed me that he was at that moment dis})roving^ the assertions of horticulturists that strawberries-could not be grown in so high a latitude as that in which he lived by producing the fruit in his-own garden.

I leave horticulturists to crack this nut for themselves, and hasten to present a much more startling one for ornitliologists from the same gentleman. He told me in all good faith and sincerity that Great Northern Divers make no nest at all^ but hatch their single egg under their wings, in which position he luid liimsclf seen a bird carrying-one.

U})on re-telling this astounding story to Mackenzie his gillie overheard it, and afterwards told me that the minister was (piite right, as three-independent witnesses, including his own In-other,, had, whilst sitting on the cliffs of Skye one Sunday afternoon, witnessed a Great Noi-iliern Diver lay her egg in the sea below them, and dive after and catch it before it reached the bottom. ( )n rising to-

ST. KILDANS BARTERING WITH THE FACTOR.

WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA.

the surface again the bird tucked her egg away under her wing and swam off. When I showed my scepticism in regard to the accuracy of the reports of this wonderful performance he said, “Ah weel, sir, if ye dinna believe it, I will no believe your story that Cuckoos put their eggs into other birds' nests with their nebs.” This had reference to a conversation he had heard between his master and myself, during which Mackenzie told me that he once shot a Cuckoo with its egg in its bill.

The factor and the people were soon hard at work buying and selling oil, feathers, and cloth, on the one hand, and pails, spades, and similarly useful articles, on the other, down at the storehouse by the sea.

We stood by for a few minutes to watch the market, shown in the picture on the preceding page. The chattering and excitement were incredible.

In the afternoon of the same day all the women and children assembled in our cottage to munch sweets and go through the packages of many-coloured kerchiefs, shawls, and petticoats the factor had brought with him for their inspection and purchase. And for six mortal hours did Mackenzie, poor man! withstand with the utmost equanimity a continuous fusilade of questions and badinage. But this was not all. At eleven o'clock at night a soft tap-tapping was heard upon the door, and in they all trooped to re-open their bargaining. I wonder what the average Bond Street shopkeeper would say to being invaded at this hour by a crowd of lady customers who had been unable to make up their minds in the afternoon.

A St. Kilda woman always regards everybody with suspicion, and does not hurry over a purchase, thinking that she is being cheated.

The Western Isles form a liappv hunting-ground for a number of Jew pedlars, and one of these fomid his way to St, Kilda on the steamer which came to take us off. No sooner had this man opened his bundle of gaudj wares than he was surrounded by an excited crowd of women and children, who l^egan to handle and examine everything he had. I saw the minister's servant-girl seize a brilliantlv-coloured petticoat, and rushing up to her reverend master thrust it in his face with childish glee and beg him to 1juy it for her. I mention this as evidence of the innocent simplicitv of these remote people. One of the civilities demanded bv the etiquette of the })lace is that you shall shake hands with everybody you come in contact with night and morning. The iirst thing they ask you in the morning is whether you have had a good sleep. If an answer in the affirmative be given they are satisfied, but if, on the contrary, you have not enjoyed a good night's rest, they folhnv up their solicitation after your welfare by inquiring whether you have eaten a good breakfast. Should this be the fact, they think you have no serious reason for complaint; l)ut should the contrary be the case, they are alarmed, and show a great deal of natural sympathy. Although extremely pious and well-behaved, they are deeply interested in the great life and death struggles of the outer world; and one of the first Cj^uestions they ask, upon being visited Ijy strangers, is whether the Queen is at war with any other country, and, if so, who is getting the best of the conflict. Nothing delights them more (men and women alike) than to hear that the enemy is being smitten hip and thigh.

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