. The earth and its inhabitants .. . am,in Harris, 2,662 feet; Ben More, of South Uist, 2,038 feet. NORTHEEN SCOTLAND. 349 cliffs, rising to a height of 1,220 feet, and access is possible only through a cleft inthe rocks.* Hirt is undoubtedly the most forsaken place in Europe, and itsinhabitants can but rarely see from their prison home the indistinct contours ofthe nearest abode of man. St. Kilda, which vessels can approach only during thethree months of summer, is looked upon even by the inhabitants of the Hebridesas an abode of misery, though, thanks to the tales of fishermen, what they sta
. The earth and its inhabitants .. . am,in Harris, 2,662 feet; Ben More, of South Uist, 2,038 feet. NORTHEEN SCOTLAND. 349 cliffs, rising to a height of 1,220 feet, and access is possible only through a cleft inthe rocks.* Hirt is undoubtedly the most forsaken place in Europe, and itsinhabitants can but rarely see from their prison home the indistinct contours ofthe nearest abode of man. St. Kilda, which vessels can approach only during thethree months of summer, is looked upon even by the inhabitants of the Hebridesas an abode of misery, though, thanks to the tales of fishermen, what they staterespecting it is mixed up with much that is fabulous. But the unanimous reportsof travellers, confirmed by the register of births and deaths, prove that thenineteen families who inhabit the island are so largely influenced by the lonely lifethey lead, that the arrival of a vessel with sailors and passengers suffices toproduce a general sickness, attended with cold in the head, amongst them. Fig. 173.—St. 1 : 750, Depth 0 to 28Fathoms- 5 Miles. This eight days sickness, or boat cough, is dangerous, more especiallyin the case of the men, and when imported by a vessel coming from Harris, itnot unfrequently terminates Similarly, on several islands of the Pacific,a single stranger spreads around him an atmosphere of sickness. The handfulof people living on St. Kilda have to undergo a hard struggle for existence. Thechildren, before they can be considered safe, have to pass through a succession of fits—caused, in the opinion of medical men, by the peculiar food administered tothem, for from the day of their birth they are made to swallow oil taken fromthe stomach of a petrel mixed with port wine. Out of every nine children born, • J. Sands, Out of the World, or Life in St. Kilda. + John Morgan, Diseases of St. Kilda, British and Foreign Medical Review. 350 THE BEITISH ISLES. five die in infancy ;* but the birth rate is unusually high, and the popula
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
