The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-04-04
The L0neliest Spot In Europe.

One hundred and forty miles from the
northwest coast of Scotland, and forty
miles from the nearest land, the extreme
point of the Hebrides Islands, lies little
archipelago or group OF islands, called
the Hirt or Hirst, and more commonly
known BY the name of one of the islands,
st. Kilda. -
St. Kilda is almost lost island, so far
is it out on the broad Atlantic, 80 COM
pletely deserted by the rest of the world,
and so wildly beaten upon by the storms.
But in spite of its remoteness, and the
fact that the island has but very small
extent of cultivable soil, St. Kilda is
inhabited by 10 families, numbering in
1881, seventy-seyens souls. The strange and
lonely life that these people live here Is
matter of pity even for the poor and
almost deserted inhabitants of the
Hebrides, who have large and popu-
lous region compared with St. kilda.
But not only is the population Of st.
Kilda as large as it was in the middle of
the last century, in spite of the un-
healthiness of the peoples way of life
and a very high death rate, but the
island has sent few emigrants to Aus
tralia.
The children all are subject to attacks
of fits, brought on, the doctors believe,
by the peculiar food given them. From
the day of their birth they are made to
swallow decoction of oil taken from
the petrol, mixed with port wine. Out
of every nine children born, five die In
infancy. 80,
St. Kilda is formed almost wholly of
steep cliffs, rising to heigh ht OF 1920
feet, and access to it is only possible
through a cleft in the rocks. essels
approach it only during the three months
OF summer. Only during these three
months are any mails received on the
island, and formerly the care was still
worse, for the loyal subjects OF the queen
at St. Kilda did not hear of King VIII
liam w. s death, and Victoria's accession
to the throne, until three years after the
event.
Some time ago a dreadful tempest
raeed at St. Kilda, and the inhabitants
having lost much of their property and
being in distress, and having several
months to wait before the mail boat
would reach them, wrote the story OF
their sufferings, put it in q bottle as the
survivors Of q wreck at sea sometimes a?,
and threw it into the water. The bottle
was picked up, delivered into the hands
of the directors of the Free Kirk OF Scot
land, Edinburgh, to whom it was ad-
dressed, and small steamer was sent to
St Kilda with supplies. IA
The life of the St. Kilda people is so
primitive that only lately have tea, sugar
and tobacco been sold among them.
When the merchant who went there from
Scotland to establish this trade arrived
at the island, he found that the St.
Kildaites were three hours behind the
rest of the kingdom in time, as the pas
tors watch, the only timepiece, on the
island, had lost that amount OF time dur
ing the nine months that intervened
since a vessel had been there.
The less than fourscore people who
live at St. Killa are so Influenced by the
lonely life they lead, that the arrival OF
a vessel with sailors and passengers SUI
fees to produce sort OF violent cold IN
the head, which the natives call the
"boat coug gh," or ''eight days sickness"
which is dangerous and sometimes fatal.
In spite of their hard struggle for ex-
istence, the people of this lone!iest place
in all Europe think that there is no Isle
like St. Kilda, and would not exchange
it for an earthly paradise. -Iouths Com
71HI0U,