Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

Ui() HOW DILI.
Macleod of Harris and dedicated to St. Columba, and to
have formed a principal possession of the Church ; if in-
deed it be true that it once contained twelve churches.
It is also said further, that there was a church here
dedicated to St. Clement, and that it was founded by
David the first in 1124. I know not that these difficul-
ties can be reconciled. As to the twelve churches, how-
ever, I imagine this must be taken with some correction ;
as the existence of so many churches for worship is
scarcely possible, when the whole present population,
surely much more dense than in those days, cannot fill
that one which now alone remains. If the assertion be
true in any shape, it is probable that most of these were
votive chapels similar to those of Barra. The present
church is of considerable dimensions, and is an object of
curiosity, as being the only catholic structure which re-
mains entire throughout the Western Islands. How it
was spared at the Reformation, we are not informed. It
is rendered still more curious by some extraordinary
sculptures on its front which do not bear description.
How they were ever attached to a Christian church, may
well be matter of surprise, unless we could imagine
this establishment to have been connected with the
Templars ; as we should ratlier have expected to have
found them in Hindostan. The only thing that could
give the least colour to such a supposition, is a tradition
that, in Sky, there was once a college of this order near
Portree ; a tale, nevertheless, to which it is very difficult
to give credit.
The intricacy of the Sound of Harris renders it quite
impossible to navigate it without a pilot ; and even with
the aid of Rory Macdonald, it was among the most for-
midable operations, with a head wind and sea, that I
have witnessed. It is a chaos of rocks and islands. I