Connecticut western news., 1886-11-24
ST. KILDA.
A Curious Island Off the Scot
 tish Coast.
A Place Where Sea Birds Form the
 Support of the Inhabitants.

bird infested isles of Soay and Boreray, ants. In 1881 the island contained nineteen families, or seventy. seven per sons, thirty three males and forty-four females. They live in little green val- ley which slopes to the sea. The island itself forms part of the ancient estate of Dunvegan. Once upon a time the vil- lage of St. Kilda looked like Hotten- tot 'kraal." The houses were huts built of loose stones and turf, and filled with an atmosphere of perennial smoke.
 Now things are better ordered. The houses are built of stone with roofs of galvanized iron, an improvement due to the generosity of Macleod of Macleod, the hereditary possessor of the land. No part of the world is more famous for it's bird inhabitants than this desolate oceanic patch. Here the solan geese nestle in thousands. The fulmar, the gannet guillemots, puffins, cider ducks, and other sea fowl exist in countless swarms. These birds form, in fact, the stay and support of the St. Kilda folk. The islanders say that the fulmar, or stormy petrel, gives them oil for burn ing, down for their beds, wholesome meat, and an ointment or salve for their infirmities. There are no hens on St. Kilda. The sea birds supply the place of the domestic fowl completely, and the housewives of the lonely isle are re-
 lieved by nature from the cares and worries of bird tending. The women look like "feathered Mercuries, for their shoes" adds this writer, ''are made of gannet's skin." The feathers are valued at Is per stone GA pounds) for the black putfin l variety and at 5s for grays. The fulmar oil sells at Is pint, the cloth made by the inhabitants at Ss per Scotch ell, while the cattle arc specially rated. For eight or nine months at time St. Klda may have no intercourse with the outer world. Life on the island wags slowly and peace fully, if monotonously along. The storms of the outside world affect not the St. Kilda folk. The islanders are exempt from consumptive troubles-a fact held by some enthusiastic doctors to be due to the atmosphere of peat smoke amid which St, Kilda at large lives and breathes. But their babies are liable to be killed off by mysterious ailment about the eighth day of life, and the people are said to be subject to a species of influenza, which only appears when strangers visit the isle. Nobody knows how this ailment is conveyed or what it is. No infection is presumed to be carried from the visiting steamer to the shore; but, nevertheless, the St. Kilda folk begin to snuff, and to sneeze whenever the tourist season sets in.
 It appears that the inhabit ants are &C., customed to send messages inserted in bottles, or in extemporized boats, to the mainland. They commit their wishes to the waves, and trust to favoring gales to wait their desires ashore. A strata gem of this kind was recently put in force by the Free church minister who has taken charge of the spiritual affairs on the island. He sent sea message which, after some weeks or months of wandering, contrived to be cast ashore and to be brought under the notice of some benevolent person, who forwarded d the message to it's destination in Edin- burgh. The reverend gentleman in this communication to the principal of the Free Church college in the Scottish metropolis spoke of the disastrous period through which his people and himself had passed in St. Kilda. They were out of everything, in fact, if the message was to be believed, and were anxiously awaiting help from the charity and benevolence of the mainland. This help was duly dispatched to them. The Jackal, a government vessel, was sent to the island, and an official of the board of supervision was dcputied, along with the surgeon of the ship, to report upon the state of things in the island. Th2 information In question has now come to hand. The reporter tells us that he found from four to six hun. dred fulmars salted and stored as provs. ions ill each family. As a single fulmal affords full meal for an adult, it fol. lows that from e1ght to twelve hundred meat rations are contained in each house in the island. Then follows a record ol salted mutton similarly laid by for future use. There are eighteen cows on the island; there are potatoes in plenty; and a certain Mir. Mackenzie, who is said .tc import and to letail the luxuries of life in the shape of tea, sugar and tobacco, is reported as doing brisk trade. 1r each family circle, the reporter tells us, he found capital to the extent o1 e20. One recent emigrant from the
 There is one pathetic sentence in the naval doctors report on St. Kilda which must not be omitted from a recital of tho life of the northern slet. After recount
 ing the liking exhibited for tobacco anC spirits, the absence of condiments
 scarcely required where salted food is SC common-and the want of vegetables
 the doctor advocates the institution O.
 simple and lively games for the childre1 of the island, the cultivation of singing
 and the practice of instrumental music
 The worthy medical man sneaks in tn,