Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

NDin?! K()i\ A. 313
recorder says iiof. As they divided the land, so they
allotted the sea; each adhering rigidly to its divisions in
this Mare Clausum. In those days also, they possessed
the gift of the second sight, and saluted strangers by
turning round them in the direction of the sun, and bless-
ing them ; a rite palpably derived from the religion of
the Magi, and confirming the probability of their descent
from Saturn and Briareus. Then also there was a chapel
dedicated to St. Ronan, (the patron saint of seals,) which
was fenced by a stone wall, and swept every day. The
altar was a plank of wood, ten feet in length, having a
stone placed in a hole at each end, and these being pos-
sessed of many virtues ; among vifhich, the most conspicu-
ous was that of promoting delivery. In this chapel, di-
vine service, consisting of the Lord's Prayer, Creed, and
Ten Commandments, was performed every Sunday morn-
ing. So far Martin; but Sir Robert Sibbald, or Sir
George Mackenzie, (which is the same thing,) says that
they performed the service two or three times a day, and
had a Romish hereditary priest. Thus great historians
differ; and who shall reconcile them. That I may ter-
minate the ecclesiastical portion of the history at once, I
must add, from Dean Monro, that, when any man died,
they were in the habit of leaving a spade and shovel iu
the chapel, and that, on the morrow, they found the
place of his grave marked out.
The present political condition of North Rona is as
simple as a monarchy which has no subjects can well be ;
but in the days of yore, it seems to have been somewhat
more refined. The five families always contained thirty
individuals, and there were always six to each family.
So says Sir George Mackenzie ; and he was a lawyer and
a government lawyer ; consequently, to be believed. The
preservation of this nice balance of population is a matter
with which Plato and Aristotle have puzzled themselves