Scope and Contents

Notes about the bird 'buigire' [puffin] that they arrive and leave Hiorta/St Kilda every year, flying in clouds, in circles, darkening the sky and landing on rocks.

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Notes about the bird fulmar and St Kildans that on Hiorta/St Kilda each fulmar is valued at seven pence each between 'oil bird + feather'; that men keep a 'goile Sulaire' on their belts into which they put a fulmar's bill for pouring out oil; describing how fulmars are caught; how the carcasses are divided and how wages are deducted for loss of any birds. The text has been scored through as if transcribed elsewhere.

Scope and Contents

Notes about sheep and wool in the St Kilda archipelago that the sheep are not fleeced but pulled, that the wool on 'sheep in Bor[eraigh]' [Borerary] is one and a half [inches] long and that there is a 'well in top of Lei - no grass' [Stac Lee]. The vocabulary notes read '"Ruagadh" = catching sheep'; 'Giaraiste = ab[ou]t 9 fath[oms] of rope which S[aint] K[ildans] carry like a non-com[mi]s[sioned] off[ice]rs shash [sash]' and 'Rusgadh = Signalling'.

Scope and Contents

Saying or quote which reads 'Bu tu sealgair a bhigein Air an t-sitig la sneaca S Kil[d]a'.

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Song beginning 'Tobar nam buadh, Tha shuas sa gleannan' with a note which follows reading 'A schoolmaster in S Kilda in print' [Hiorta/St Kilda]. Text has been scored through as if transcribed elsewhere.

Scope and Contents Song collected from Oighrig NicCruimein nighean dhol Dhonul mac Cruimein [Effie MacCrimmon], age 84, [Hiorta/St Kilda] beginning 'Gur mise tha fo ghruaim, Gur a fluich tha mo ghruaidh'. Eibhrig says 'Si mo mhathair a rin an d-oran so ga an duine aice' [My mother composed this song for her husband]; the heading, written by Carmichael, is 'Chai[dh] e leis [a' chreig]', in other words he fell from the cliff. The song contains many annotations pencil and in ink and the text has been scored...

Scope and Contents Song entitled 'Gleann' collected from Christy MacLeod, aged 47, Obe, Harris, originally from St Kilda [Obbe, Na Hearadh/Isle of Harris and Hiorta/St Kilda] beginning 'Himbo cha ruig mi ort, Be mise gun ite in Hearra'. The accompanying notes state how she has collected seven stones of feathers because of her dog's bird-hunting abilities, that dogs are numerous in St Kilda with every family having three or four for the birds and that 'The St Kilda people in Australia were saying in their...

Scope and Contents Song entitled 'Mor Iorteach' [Mor Hiortach, Marion Gillies] beginning 'Cha'n ionagh mis a bhi ualach' and containing eighteen lines arranged into five verses: the last line of verse three is missing along with the first two lines of verse four. The story refers to Mor as 'Mor Bhàn' and that not only did she compose songs she sang them too 'having a beautiful rich full voice'. It quotes two descriptions of her beauty including that she was 'a leanann-falaich to Campbell of Islay' [Robert...

Scope and Contents Song entitled 'Mor Iorteach' beginning 'Gun robh Iain MacGilliosa, Is t-fhoabhar rium ga libhinn' composed by Mor Hiortach [Marion Gillies or MacDonald, Trumpan, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach/Isle of Skye]. Verses three and four are both bracketed with a question mark in a different ink. The accompanying story includes information on her death; her marriage; her beauty and that 'She was always made to sing her song to Islay [Robert Campbell of Shawfield] in visiting gentlemen's houses for which...

Scope and Contents

Story about a St Kilda [Hiorta] man surviving a fall from the rocks where he was hunting because 'the birds he had round his belt kept him afloat.' It adds that he was driven to North Uist [Uibhist a Tuath].