Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

ST. KILDA. 175
tains three principal springs, of which Tober-nam-buy
rises by a large well, producing- at once a considerable
stream. My followers spoke of it with great enthusiasm,
as abounding in all sorts of good qualities. The love of
water, simply, for its own sake, and independently of any
traditionary virtues, is universal among the Highlanders,
who stop to drink at every stream that trickles down a
rock, whether thirsty or not. " Very fine water ; no such
water in your country," is a common remark ; and they
seem to drink it out of mere pride, because there " is no
such water any where as in the Highlands." They seem
to have as much respect for it as good Izaak Walton,
who calls it the eldest daughter of Creation. Truly they
are entitled to some advantages in return for the waters
in which they are for ever enveloped, in the shape of
clouds, fogs, mists, rains, rivers, lakes, and bogs.
The small island Soa is a lofty green hill, precipit-
ous nearly on all sides, and separated from the north-
western extremity of St. Kilda by a narrow strait, in
which lie two picturesque rocks, one of them being per-
forated by an arched passage. The view from above is
singularly striking, and even sublime, from the depth
and narrowness of the chasm and the wildness of the en-
closing rocks. The light of the day did not seem to
reach it, the objects being illuminated by the reflections
from the sea, as it foamed through ; the mists which rose
from the breaking waves, adding to a depth that seemed
indefinite, and the light thin clouds, which were flying
in from the western ocean, at every instant involving the
summits of the cliffs so as to produce the most magnifi-
cent eff'ects of light and shadow, added to a mysterious
and romantic uncertainty, which seemed to remove it
from the world of realities; a vision of some disturbed
dream. Soa is said to contain four or five hundred sheep,