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Biographical note about Col[onel] Campbell of Taransay [Tarasaigh] that he was uncle to the 'most remarkable fine' and unmarried Captain [Kenneth] Campbell, noting where the captain lived and died. The note also states that the colonel became proprietor of Uardle Kintire [probably Ugadale, Cinn Tìre/Kintyre].

Scope and Contents Field notebook belonging to Alexander Carmichael, inscribed on the inside cover with 'Alexander A Carmichael Inland Revenue Lochmaddy N[orth] Uist 15/7 1870 Note Book No 8'. The majority of this notebook contains material collected on Tarasaigh/Taransay from the MacDonalds at Paible House, Mor or Marion MacQueen and Donald MacKinnon including notes on the island's archaeology, local history and geographical changes, with stories of how coastal erosion revealed burial sites and renditions of...

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Journal entry on leaving Tarasaigh/Taransay having been there for '4 nights & 3 days and rec[eive]d much kindness' and accompanying biographical note about Mrs MacDonald of Taransay that three of her grandfathers were 'tighearnan' and that her 'g[rea]t grandfath[er] had all the mount[ain]s and Aoi [Uidh] &c &c.'

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Note about a man who recollects the Aoi isthmus [Uidh, Tarasaigh/Taransay] being ploughed although it is now 'sand hills and a big strand washed by the sea'.

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Note about Sorchan a Ghille Hirstich [Sorachan a' Ghille Hiortaich] describing it as a big stone halfway between Paible and Aoi [Paibeil and Uidh, Tarasaigh/Taransay] with a comfortable seat in the back of it. The accompanying vocabulary note reads 'Eiteag. Eiteag na beinne = Spar rock'.

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Note about Taransay House, Tarasaigh/Taransay describing its dimensions, construction and estimating it to have been built about three hundred years before [c1570]. Also mentioned is the 'fine large garden [of] good soil but ill cultivated' which leads on to a description of the land quality on the island, the presence of lazybeds and the 'Beautiful grazing...espe[cially] at Aoi Paible and Rà good water' [Uidh, Paibeil and Raah].

Scope and Contents Notes on deserted houses, archaeological sites and the geography of Tarasaigh/Taransay, describing the houses at Aoi [Uidh] which had been left by families who moved to Paible [Paibeil] including 'a nice box of a house in front with one chim[ney] & plastered' and their situation as being in a 'beautiful spot'. The accompanying sketch is of Clach an Teampuill which is on Croc an Teampuill [Cnoc an Teampuill] and noted are its dimensions, that it is made of grey granite and that its...

Scope and Contents Notes on place-names and archaeology made on a journey between Caolas Stiatair House and Tarbert market [An Tairbeart, Na Hearadh/Isle of Harris] with Rev. Don[ald] Macintosh [MacKintosh], S[outh] Uist [Uibhist a Deas] and Mr Archie MacRae, Huisinnish [Huisinis]. The notes are quite abbreviated but include a mention of trap dykes at Loch chistevad [Loch Cisteabhat] in the middle of which was a castle, which someone tried to drain to get to the castle but failed; and a note that nearby at...

Scope and Contents Notes on the population of Tarasiagh/Taransay, stating that Paible is the inhabited part and Rath the north township 'but no people now', that 'Aird-Mhanuis' [Àird Mhànais] is an island at high spring tides, and that good families came from Taransay including that of Cap[tain] Ken[neth] Campbell 'mac Alast[air] ic Coinnich ic Dho[mh]n[u]il[l] ic Iain Oig of Taransay' describing Captain Campbell as 'one of the most gent[le]manly men who ever live.' Campbell is said to have lived at Aoi [Uidh]...

Scope and Contents Story telling how Alexander Mac Iain 'ic Leòid [MacLeod] from An t-Eilean Sgitheanach/Isle of Skye but living at Aoi [Uidh, Tarasaigh/Taransay], was tacksman of St Kilda [Hiorta] and set out to collect his 'rent grain' from St Kilda with his wife Barbara ni Dho[nmhuil] ic Iain oig [née Campbell] and a boatful of skin sacks. The weather turned bad so that they had to throw most of the sacks out and eventually they found themselves stranded on 'Ronai an t-saimh N[orth] W[est] of the Butt'...