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A FLIGHT TO ST. KILDA
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on the island, it is
not easy to get at; so the crofters content themselves
with turf, which is fast destroying the pasturage
around the village. There are no trees now on any of
the islands, although the roots of trees are found in
the swamps, showing that they were once common there.
One of the curious
features of all the islands is the large number of small
stone huts, resembling “bee-skeps” in shape, called
Cleits in Gaelic, which are scattered about, in
which they dry their hay and grain; for the St. Kildians
have a habitual distrust of the weather, and never
attempt to dry any of their crops in the open air.
There are sundry old ruins also, probably small
strongholds, like the brochs of Shetland, built
of stones without mortar; but their history has
perished. There is an old-fashioned Spring-well at the
end of the village (see Illustration), which
supplies the wants of all and sundry; while there is not
a Public House, or “Shebeen,” or even a “Wee Still,”
that I could hear of. The island, therefore, furnishes
an example of a community in our midst reared on
teetotal principles for generations. They know nothing
of drunkenness. And a story is related of one of the
St. Kilda men, after he had partaken of a large dose of
whisky, and was feeling very heavy after it, as he was
falling into a sleep, and fancying it to be his last,
expressed to his companion the great satisfaction he had
to meeting with such an easy passage out of this world;
“for,” said he, “it is attended with no kind of pain
whatever.”
There are no doctors
or druggists' shops on St. Kilda; but as all the old
wives I know are rank quacks in a mild way, it is
doubtless the same there. And I am confirmed in this
belief by Mr Connell, correspondent of the Glasgow
Herald, affirming that he was present in the Manse
one night when Mr MacKay's housekeeper administered to
her old master, who seemed on the point of death, three
handfuls of oatmeal moistened with cold water and Port
wine. The minister vomited the whole, which doubtless
saved his life; and then the visitors interfered, and
turned the natives out of the house.
As to Law, there is no Sheriff or Justice
of Peace Court, but all the men assemble in Parliament
every morning and decide on every case brought before
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