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A FLIGHT TO ST. KILDA
18
try to make the
pathway in front of the houses a little smoother and
more respectable for the sake of the bare-footed women
and children (for the women generally go barefoot as
well as the children). The pier is quite decent now;
and as to the Church and School, the same may be said of
them as the Ayrshire farmer said of his wife — “She was
as good a woman as there was any use for.” When
I spoke to the men about their nettley churchyard as a
disgrace to them, they merely replied — “You see, sir,
there is nobody paid for it.” For they have a
keen eye on money; and when one of our amateur
photographers on board proposed to take a group of them,
they coolly asked, “What will you give us for it?”
I did not see any
domestic fowls going about; and perhaps the reason is
that, as on Ailsa Craig, the fowls are apt on stormy
clays to be swept into the sea. Although there are no
fowls, there are plenty of dogs — a mongrel species of
Collie — which help them with the sheep, as well as with
catching young sea-birds at the breeding-time. There
are no rabbits that I could hear of, though they abound
on Ailsa; but I daresay the St. Kildians have found that
sheep are more profitable than rabbits.
I asked Mr Ross what he thought of the
future of St. Kilda, seeing they are constantly on
poortith's brink, and the world is wide, and lands
elsewhere much more fertile; but he said that the people
were attached to their home, and he did not see why
affairs should not go on as at present for many years to
come. But this is too optimistic a view, I fear.
Besides, the population is steadily diminishing; and
200 years ago, it was more than twice what it now is.
About seventeen years ago, the island was rather
painfully brought under public notice by a “message from
the sea” which was washed ashore on the island of Lewis,
stating that the people of St. Kilda were starving,
owing to a storm having destroyed all their crops. This
message was followed by others of a similar tenor, and
finally by a letter from MacKay the minister, addressed
to Dr Rainy. In answer to this appeal, a steamer was
chartered in Glasgow, and sent out with about £100 worth
of provisions and seed. On arriving, however, they found
that the news was exaggerated, and that the people were
in no
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