Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

196 ST. KILDA.
women look like feathered Mercuries, for their shoes are
made of a gannet's skin ; every thing smells of feathers,
and the smell pursued us all over the islands ; for the
Captain had concealed a sack full in the cabin.
I could not leave St. Kilda without looking at the
ruins of that house which once concealed the very cele-
brated Lady Grange. 1 thought to have given you her
romantic history by way of episode; but after hearing
five editions of it, and all of them different, I determined
to have no hand in propagating a tale where the ratio of
probable falsehood was four to one. So the boat was
launched down the rock as it had been drawn up ; and,
with the cheers of the whole island, we embarked to
plough once more the deep.
It is easier to acquire a bad reputation than to
lose it ; and in whatever manner this common misfor-
tune has happened to St. Kilda, it is not very likely
that my efforts will avail to repair it. In Scotland,
universally, we had heard of the voyage to this island
as of a mighty problem in navigation, as an adven-
ture little less than an expedition to the north pole;
and, even in the neighbouring islands, the difficulty of
landing, and the impossibility of carrying a vessel near
the coast, were represented in the most formidable co-
lours. But I had heard the same of Staffa and of twenty
other places ; and had long learned to despise these ex-
aggerations, which are the common result of ignorance,
cowardice, or a love of the marvellous. For the Sound of
Harris, which is the proper channel, a pilot may always
be procured at Rovvdill, whence the distance is about se-
venteen leagues. As it is either difficult or impracti-
cable to land in southerly or easterly winds, it is not de-
sirable to have a fair wind for this voyage. St. Kilda
Itself and its accompanying rocks, are far too conspicuous
to be a cause of uneasiness ; nor are there any outstand-