“ St Kilda is probably the core of a Tertiary volcano, but, besides volcanic rocks, contains hills of sandstone in which the stratification is distinct. The boldness of its scenery is softened by the richness of its verdure. The inhabitants, an industrious Gaelic-speaking community (110 in 1851 and 77 in 1901) , cultivate about 40 acres of land (potatoes, oats, barley) , keep about 1000 sheep and a few head of cattle. They catch puffins, fulmar petrels, guillemots, razor-birds, Manx shearwaters and solan geese both for their oil and for food. ”

“ Fishing is generally neglected. Coarse tweeds and blanketing are manufactured for home use from the sheep’s wool which is plucked from the animal, not shorn. The houses are collected in a little village at the head of the East Bay. The island is practically inaccessible for eight months of the year, but the inhabitants communicate with the outer world by means of “sea messages,” which are dispatched in boxes when a strong west wind is blowing, and generally make the western islands or mainland of Scotland in a week. ”