|
A FLIGHT TO ST. KILDA
22
Grange, about 180
years ago, was afflicted with a wife notoriously given
over to whisky-drinking. He tried every plan he could
think of to wean her from the habit, but in vain. At
last, driven to desperation, and there being no homes
for inebriates in those days, the Judge engaged some men
to kidnap her and carry her off in a small sailing
vessel, along with a waiting woman, to St. Kilda; and
there, in a hired lodging, she remained for a number of
years, shut out from the world, till Lord Grange's
death, when she was released and brought back to
civilization again. One hardly knows in this case
whether to pity most the afflicted husband or the
misguided wife!
The sea-birds most
plentiful on St. Kilda are the Fulmar, the Solan Goose,
the Puffin, the Guillemot, and the Razorbill. Of these,
the one most specially identified with the island is the
Fulmar, a bird about the size of a Gull, which emits,
when caught, a strong-smelling oil, and has on that
account been called the “Skunk of birds.” A small black
bird, called the Stormy Petrel, breeds here too, and its
eggs are gathered and sold as a curiosity. It is the
smallest web-footed bird known, and gets its name of
Petrel, or Peter's bird, because in skimming over
the sea it seems as if walking on the surface of the
water.
When people ask me, “Is
St. Kilda worth seeing?” I can only answer with
Thomas Carlyle — “It is worth seeing, but it is not
worth going to sea.” It is a bare rocky island,
or rather group of islands, fifty miles beyond the Outer
Hebrides, with a poor row of one-storey cottages a
little bit off the beach. The thing best worth seeing
are the cliffs where the sea-birds build; and if the
captain had sailed close to these, it would have made
our trip more enjoyable; for it was not a little
tantalizing to go so far and see so little. Ailsa
Craig, to my mind, is a much grander sight than St.
Kilda, although less is said about it.
I think this is all I can say of any
interest about this lonely island of the sea, which
forms the most advanced outpost of the British Isles.
It is in itself a poor twopence-halfpenny concern at
the best, and hardly worth the fuss that is made about
it. It has a pretty-sounding name, but that is the best
of it. The steamer's hands don't like
|
