No. VII.—A Notice of the Island of St. Kilda, on the North-west Coast of Scotland. By Mr. G. C. Atkinson.
Read, January 16, 1832.
During an excursion among some of the less-explored Hebrides, made last spring, I was astonished at the frequent occurrence of the most magnificent rock scenery, in its most imposing forms, and, the more so, that it is almost unknown. The Isle of Skye abounds in it, and Harris, which is the only other I saw much of, has some magnificent precipices; but they are both inferior to the solitary isles of St. Kilda, which far exceeded any conception I had formed of their grandeur, and seemed so interesting to me, both on that account and from their inhabitants, that, I beg leave to present the following notice of them to the Natural History Society, under the impression that a description of that which was so abundant in interest to me, may not be devoid of it to others, and perhaps induce some more competent person to visit, and describe more fully, these magnificent islands.
From the infrequency, I imagine, of the visits of strangers to St. Kilda, a most unreasonable degree of difficulty is attributed to the undertaking; so much so, that McCulloch is not exaggerating when he observes, in his amusing Letters on the Highlands and Western Islands, "In Scotland universally, we had heard of the voyage to this island, as of a mighty problem in navigation," for I can add in corroboration, that on our return, the fact of our departure for it had been reported throughout the islands, and the oft-repeated questions about it soon became sufficiently tiresome.
It will be asked, "What, then, is the usual communication?" The island belongs to McLeod, of Harris, and is visited twice a year by his tacksman, who generally goes from a small island, called Pabbah, situated somewhat nearer to it than Harris, to which it lies nearly VOL. II. 3 B
