The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-16 00:00:00

We abridge the following singular narrative from tohie,
Glasgow Free Press. The natives of St. Kilda,.theti'
distant only two or three days' sail from our own shores,
are as primitive in their manners, and appear to know a'
little of the civilized world, as if they were residents at Ota-
heite or Nova Zembla :
" The steamer Glenalbyn, Daniel Mathicson, commander;
lately performed a most extensive, varied, and magnifiee°
voyage. She proceeded from Oban (a sea-port in Inver-,
ness, within a day's sail of Glasgow), on Saturday, the' th
about eleven a.m., for the Spa Cave, calling at Tobermery.
On her arrival at the Spa Cave, the evening proved pit:
titularly propitious, and the passengers had an opportut
of visiting it, with preparations by manropes, torches, &e: in,
"At day-light next morning she started for Loch-APP
and arrived there about six o'clock, where all the passe,'
,ers landed, and experienced one of the most spiel a`d
_
views imaginable. This romantic lake is celebrated
note, by Sir Walter Scott, to his poem of the Lord of fife
Isles ;' but notwithstanding his incomparable powit in ers.
description, the sublimity of the scenery surpassed I to
reality. Proceeding to Lochbraccadale, she received s°,„
young geologists, from whence she went to Lochnamrl
and took on board a pilot, about three p. m., under wrof
guidance she proceeded through the very intricate Solna
en
Harris, studded with rocks ; and after gaining the °P
sea, a beautiful expanse of ocean opened itself to the,vl,eho
of many, who then, for the first time, had witnessed `1)
broad Atlantic without the view of land beyond. Ab9u-
midnight they arrived off St. Kilda. Owinc, to their behtaiet
no person acquainted with the anchorage, Captain es el to
son, advisedly, let off the steam, and hove the vessed the
under her sails. At daylight the steam was set on, an
e.
vessel very soon approached the bay opposite to where
itvh
whole inhabitants of the island reside. At this time it :
about 4 a.m., and the steamer fired off two of her eann°
the report of which aroused the natives, who issued fromas
their dwellings like flocks of bees. As the Glenalbyli
the first steamer that ever touched at St. Kilda, its,lo..
wonted appearance, and the noise of escaping steam coo' s.
rc ag
ed, led the natives simultaneously to flee to the steepest
In a short time, however, one of the party, more couraeo
i,
than the others, slowly returned, and approached the
Fyn
ter's house, when, after remaining for some little time, heis
went back, and headed them to the beach. St. g°7t is
said by the poet to be upon the melancholy main ; bn us
the visitors and visited, upon this occasion, it was a Wit.
scene in the extreme. Many of those who landed hatdP, ,
viously provided themselves with quantities of tc'eae-0°(
cotton handkerchiefs of gay patterns, &c. ; the formert of
which they distributed liberally amongst the male Parana
the population, and the latter amongst the matrons ;e
maids, some of whom, upon discovering themselves to
so unexpectedly adorned, actually shed tears of exultatnai, „
" The population consists of 21 families, or 93 ,Iy,
,
viduals, who have never increased for the last ten ear
Many of them marry very young, and, of course, with;te-
relatives, which may partly account for the apparent to be
rioration of the race. The clergyman's duties appear erial
strictly confined to religious matters.—The tuagistwith
duties devolve upon the only individual in the islan,`,l(iate
the exception of the minister) who speaks the Eng"'"l,und-
guage, and who is employed by the proprietor as gr° the
officer to collect the feathers, &c., which are given "Loa
natives in- lieu of rent, and who terms himself `b'-oid
Bailie.' His cast of countenance is rather intelligent' eof
he appears, from his air, to assume a considerable deg' e the
authority, but in dress and otherwise he appears e Col likeeted
other natives. The houses, 21 in number, are coand
close to each other, with very narrow passages between,: a
form a circle, at one side of which the Baron nailietls,o4
bench erected, where he holds courts once a wee''
dispenses justice liberally. the
" A house, remote from the others, has a lock ea tog
door (the only one amongst the natives), where raor
couples are placed in upon being married, and the also
locked upon them for twenty-four hours. There ,;00
several other houses at a distance, where the inhan'
out,
store their feathers. At this season of the year theY cope
the fowls by descending the cliffs, suspended by a Ida
composed of horse-hair, which two or three Persaflescood
above. The person capturing the birds has a piece eild of
or branch, similar to a common fishing-rod, to the en,tb,
which there is a piece of hair-line, about a foot in le head
formed into a running noose, which he places over the titelis
of the bird, and by pulling it towards him the noose tigh s in
upon the bird's neck, which he then unfastens, and take the
another. There is neither surgeon nor midwife in the
island ; and when children are born, they are fed for, , it
first five days upon butter dissolved in milk, and sh ootTer
happen to survive that period, it is then suckled, but ° opt
wise it of course dies. It is ascertained that only °n leads
of ten passes the age of infancy. A natural transition 0,,
us to proceed from the birth to the death,—and °foci'',
casion of a funeral, the whole population follow the Lc', the
in a direct line, to the place of interment ; but shoal i-ffs\
death be untimely (more especially by a fall from thel.ri,ii
then what may be termed a Roman, or perhaps ,note,'
howl takes place, and the natives abstain from every are
pation for a period of three days. Their houses. ghts
in general built of loose stones, about five feet in s'c'oot
and composed of great masses, usually from Their
to six feet in thickness, thatched with straw. ioter
beds, or rather places of repose, are, for the ``ineir
and spring months, in a recess within the before' „,,y
tioned thick walls, where a quantity of fog, without lir
covering is laid. Before leaving, all the natives were the
vited on board to view the steamer, which invitatienonovi
male part of the population accepted, but declined Novo
the females to accompany them. On their being ale
into the cabin, its splendour overcame them to such a or;
gree, that many of them seemed inclined to kneel a.l", and
ship. They asked if the ship belonged to the 14:1,115'0
whether or not he had any others, and if so larger folic
upon being informed that his Majesty had vessels Se
`.e
the size, they appeared not to credit it ; and sto.' tecl
of them being shown their images in a large mirror, 5a .f be
with affright,—one in particular ; for on being asklei Dore
thought that it was his brother, he became tD
alarmed, and said that he never had one in his life' dle
" About eight a.m., she sailed from St. Kilda, 911 ,1011
ceeded back through the Sound of Harris, and the° ice',
the north of Long Island to Stornoway, where she 1110
about ten o'clock, after experiencing a heavy set, e,„
Pot !
strong breeze a-head ; she then sailed about one
Tuesday morning, for Oban, and called at Po jro,'
preparations were making for one of the Skye sing
kets ; from thence through the inner Sounds, Pa,si-ve I,rs
and Rum, in the former of which is the celebrated ca to
scribed by Sir Walter Scott, in one of his notes pr
poem of the " Lord of the Isles." On arriving at n0,55e5:
the evening proved to be particularly fine, and the.orode
gers had every opportunity of exploring its varied "„ in rll/;
and when the company sung " God save the R-ing,:), testi:
gal's Cave, the effect was remarkably striking. r'„'",eet,
she proceeded to lona, and it being then about sa:'"riolls
sublimity of the scenery, accompanied with asselor into
elevated emotions, caused the visit to be of peeu e to ell",
rest. Several of the young gentlemen went asil°r,dtenle
joy the night at the inn. At daylight on Wed the es"
30th, the vessel returned to Oban, and landed l'-e
.0
passengers about 11 o'clock, a.m. ship
NA
46
We must not omit to mention, that while the
tfortaii,
at sea on Sunday, the 27th, divine worship was,
tee v. SS'
in a very solemn and respectful manner, by the r
Liam Hetherington."
°e
BIRTHS. Cbal
On the 12th inst., at Cheltenham, the lady of :Ma)
of a daughter. .ett,
On the 12th inst., at Brighton, the lady of W. NV- P":2l_,--/
of a son.
.1104
fi
MARRIED.
On the 12th inst., at West Teignmouth Church, De,Ao-e; t
Thomas Swinnerton Dyer, Esq., to Amelia Helen, el" I,io'
ter of Daniel Robertson, Esq. of Dawlish Devonshire. of Dite
On the 12th inst., at Edinburgh, James Stewart, fl"f ,
coin's Inn, Barrister, to Margaret Emil third daug'l,te. ° ,rthu;
Duncan Stewart, Esq., of Glenbueker, Perthshire. lOP tilde'
On the 13th inst., at St. Mark's, Kennington, v;.len' e.e
Geary, of Lichfield, New South Wales, to Mary -I
daughter of the late Mr. T. Hall, of Kennington.e • Ste" Pr
West fiso
On the 31st ult., at St. Margaret's Church, e +,
John Clark, Esq., of Park place, South Chelsea, (fiteclo;
Green, of the Vauxhall Bridge-road. '
On the 9th inst., at St James's, Westminster, jA-Lr1,.,113r
of Regent-street, to Amelia Amee only child of Ric'''.
t
Esq., of Albion-terrace, Kin 's
-road. tenon ,00
On the 14th inst., at St. Luke's, Chelsea, Lien. b e ••0
Jones, R.N., to Mss Charlotte Le Cren, of Greensocra. stollt;
On the 14th inst., at St. Paul's, Ball's-pond, W„lliatol3falc,
of Charles Stone, Esq.. of' White Lion-street, iif„ of
. Mary Anne, second daughter of Thomas MundaY, . 4.,
loot
bury-park, Islington. pile.,
at
On the 12th inst., at Oxted, Surrey,
oftlate Lie
Chichester to Mary, youngest daughter the
obs,
Colonel Bellis.
DIE.
()n the 14th inst., Mr. Jo
hnJackson, of Leo° f.,000r
Esq.,
aged 69. et ht,-
.f
On the 13th inst., aged 64, John Harrison, sag
grove, near Maidene, erks.
eh
On the 13th inst., h
a atd Sioß n-place, Mary Isabella, f°tlrth
of the late Lieutenant-Colonel Rind. of ill of
On the 3d inst., at Dover, Henry Tulk, DA" to v
Surrey, aged 38. of 0'
On the 12th inst., aged 84, Mr. Thomas Watt''
na3ePar,
Eli
yards, Bath. Bern° Ye e
On the 12th inst., in Upper Russell-street, r 4ist
ret.
beth Peacock, wife of William Peacock, in be dserst
eldest daughter of Mr. Joseph Everett, of Benriaerubnara ps
tole!
On the Bth inst., in St. James's-place, 500rt4
infant daughter of J. B. Trevanion, Esq., age in-law, ' of '`
On the 14th inst., at the house of his son. 106 ty
do, of
Roberts, Farringdon-street, John Diggens,
14 met
Clapton, aged 65. wcbt,Aup.
On the 13th inst., at Croom's-hill, Greed ganTL,
youngest daughter of Mr. Harry Roertson, ane,
the late Charles Robertson, Esq., of Kindeac
yOv
London : and Published,byr Vsretrd.
- at The Sun Office, NO. IL,'