The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1888-05-04
The Loneliest Spot In Europe.

One hundred apd forty miles from the
northwest coast of Scotlacd. and forty
miles from the nearest land, the extreme
point of the Hebrides Island, 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 a lost island, so far
is 1t out on the broad Atlantic, So COM
pletely deserted by the rest o: 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 seven 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 a large and
populous region compared with st.
Kilds. 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 unhealthiness of the peoples way
of life and very high death tate, but
the island has sent few emigrants to
Australia.
| 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.
st. Kilda is formed almost wholly Of
steep cliffs, rising to a height of 1920
feet, and access to it is only possible
through cleft in the rocks. Vessels
approach it only during the three
months OF summer. Only during these
three months are any mails received on
tie island, and formerly the case was
still worse, for the royal subjects of the
Queen at st. Kilda did not hear of King
William Tvs death, ard VictorIa's
accession to the throne, until three
years after the event.
Some time ago a dreadful tempest
ragged at st. Kilds, 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 bottle as the
survivors of a wreck at sea sometimes
do. ard threw it into the water. The
bottle was picked up, delivered into the
hands OF the directors of the Free Kirk
OF Scotland, Edinburgh, to whom il
was addressed, and a small steamer wa.
cent to St. Kilda with supplies.
The life of the st. Kilds people is SC
primitive that only lately have tea, su-
gar and tobacco been sold among them
When the merchant who went there
from Scotland to establish this trade
arrived at the island. be found that the
ST. Kildaites were three hours behind
the rest of the kingdom in time, as the
! PASTORS watch, the only timepiece OF
J the island, had lost that amount of timt
during the nine months that interveneC
since vessel had been there.
The less than fourscore psople wht
live al s.. Kilda are SO Influenced b,
r the lonely life they lead, that the ar.
rival OF a vessel with sailors and passen,
5 gers suflices to produce sort of violen
t cold in the head, which the natives cal
the ''boat cough" or ''eight days sick
ness" which is dangerous and some
{ times fatal.
t 1t spite of their hard struggle 70
D existence, the people of this lonelies
: place in all Europe think that there !
3 10 isle like ST. Xilda, and would no
T exchange it Cor an earthly paradise.