The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-11-18
ST. KILDA.
A Curious Island or the Scot
tish Coast.
A Place Where Sea Birds Form the
Support of the Inhabitants.

ga curious bit of land is ST.. KildA"
says the London Neua 1t lies sixty miles
beyond Harris, and is 140 miles distant
from tho mainland. Near it are the
bird.infested isles of Soay and Boreray,
but St. Kilda alone boasts human ten
ants. In 1881 the island contained
nineteen families, or seventy. seven per-
sons, thirty three males and forty-four
females. They live in little grecn vail
ley which slopes to the sea. The island
itself forms part Of the ancient estate of
Dunvegan. Once upon time the vii
lage of st. Kilda looked like Hotten-
tot "kraal." The houses were huts
tailt of loose stones and turf, and filed
with an atmosphere of Parental 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 its
bird inhabitants than this dcsolate
oceanic patch. Here the solan geese
nestle in thousands. The fulmar, the
gannet guillemots, puffius, 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
infrmities. 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 lcathcred Mercuries, for their
Shoes" adds this writer, ''are made of
gannet's skin" Tho feathers are
valued at Is per stone IA
pounds) for the black putin
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 cattlo are
specially rated. For eight or nine
months at time st. Kilda 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 consumptivc troubles--a fact held
by some enthusiastic doctors to be due
to the atmosphere of peat smoke amid
which St. Kilda at largo lives and
brcathes. But their babies arc liable to
be killed off by mysterious ailmcnt
about the eighth day of life, and the
people are said to be subject to species
of influenza, which only appears when
strangers visit the isle. Nobody knows
how this ailmcnt 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 sneezc
whenever the tourist season sets in.
1t appears that the inhabit ants are &C
customed to send messages inserted in
bottles, or in extcmporizcd boats, to the
mainland. They commit their wishe.
to the waves, and trust to favoring gales
to watt 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 ol
some benevolent person, who forwarded
the message to its destination in Edin.
burgh. The reverend gentleman in thi.
communication to the principal Of the
Free Church college in the Scottish
metropolis spoke of the disastrou.
period through which his people and
himself had passed in st. Kilda. They
were out of everything, in fact, if thu
message was to be believed, and wer'
anxiously awaiting help from the charity
and benevolence of the mainland. Thi.
help was duly dispatched to them. Tht
Jackai, a government vessel, wa
sent to the island, and an official OF th,
board of supervision was deputied
along with the surgeon of the ship, t.
report upon the state of things in tn
island. The information In question ha
now come to hand. The reporter tell
us that he found from four to six hun
dred fulmars salted and stored as provis
ions in each family. AS a single fulma
affords full meal for an adult, it fol
lows that from eight to twelve hundred
meat rations are contained in each hous
in the island. Then follows record o
salted mutton similarly laid by for futur
use. There are eighteen COWS on tn
island; there are potatoes in plenty; ant
certain Mr.. Mackenzie, who is said +
import and to retail the luxuries of lif
in the shape of tea, sugar and tobacco
is reported as doing brisk trade. Il
each family circle, the reporter tells us
he found capital to the extent 0
e2O. One recent emigrant from tn
There is one pathetic sentence in tn
naval doctors report on st. Kilda whicI
must not be omitted from recital Of tn
life of the northern islet. After recount
: ing the liking exhibited for tobacco AM
spirits, the absence of condiments :
, scarcely required where salted food is S
: common-and the want of vegetables
{ the doctor advocates the institution Q
r simple and lively games for the childre