Wiseman, Andrew

English

A brief article for a popular audience investigating Alexander Carmichael's ill-starred visit to St Kilda in 1865

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     Edinburgh Research Explorer                                      'To have kissed a St Kilda lassie'Citation for published version:Wiseman, A 2011, ''To have kissed a St Kilda lassie'', pp. 16-19, Scottish Islands Explorer, 12 6.Link:Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research ExplorerDocument Version:Publisher final version (usually the publisher pdf)Published In:Scottish Islands ExplorerPublisher Rights Statement:© Wiseman, A. (2011). 'To have kissed a St Kilda lassie'. Scottish Islands Explorer 12 6 (pp. 16-19).General rightsCopyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s)and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise andabide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.Take down policyThe University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorercontent complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright pleasecontact openaccess@ed.ac.uk providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately andinvestigate your claim.Download date: 20. Feb. 2015To have Kissed a St Kildan LassieTo Have Kissed a St  K IL D A N  LASSIEAndrew Wiseman relates how Alexander Carmichael was delighted, while collecting folklore materialOne of the best known facts about St Kilda is that the whole population left in 1930, but perhaps one of the lesser-known facts about this island is that it was repopulated by other Hebrideans (mainly from Skye but also from Harris) during the late 1720s.Owing to an outbreak of smallpox, the indigenous population was almost completely destroyed (only four adults and two dozen children survived).The decision was taken by the then owner, MacLeod of Dunvegan, to have the island repopulated to become economically viable by bringing in rents. MacDonalds,Fergussons, MacKinnons, MacLeods, Gillieses and Morrisons became familiar surnames among the islanders and bear witness to these newcomers and their descendants.Despite, or perhaps mainly, because of the islands remoteness - lying some 40 miles to the west - St Kilda from the mid-19th Century on became a popular tourist attraction for its natural history in an exotic location. Some visitors thought they were viewing a pristine arcadia previously only known to a select few. Such a fancy was far from the truth.'To Propagate the Natural History'Martin Martin (cl668 -1718), an indigenous Gael, is remembered for his A D escription o f  th e Western Isles o f  Scotland (1703), which, it is said, partly inspired Boswell and1 6  SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011To Have Kissed a St Kildan LassieJohnson’s later tour. Martin, originally from Skye, visited the island in 1697, and a year later published his observations in A Late Jou rna l to St Kilda. His introduction relates a great desire ‘to propagate the natural history... without any disguise.’A similar motivation influenced Alexander Carmichael - another Gael, born on Lismore in 1832 - who became an exciseman on Uist and soon visited St Kilda. In his spare time Carmichael amassed much Gaelic lore, including charms, songs, stories, hymns, proverbs and so on. A fraction of these were later edited and published to wide acclaim as Carmina Gadelica (1900).Alexander Carmichael’s first of only two trips to St Kilda took place on 22 May 1865. He left Lochmaddy, in North Uist, at 4.30 a.m. and the boat sailed through the Sound of Harris, where Carmichael would have caught sight of St Clement s church in Rodel. A further six hours into the journey and St Kilda appeared on the horizon. He notes included:Islands look m agn ificen t r isin g up o f  th e w ater in th e mist. S light breeze on th e starboard side. Arrived at St K ilda about 12 noon. Fine open bay. B old  rocks an d  remarkably grand. Landed in f ir s t  boat. Was a t manse. P oorly fu rn ish ed  bu t g o o d  house. Cameron the missionary oldish an d  common  looking. St K ildans g o o d  looking s[t]out fe llow s with pa le complexions. Woman g o od  looking and  ruddy complexions. Women high  shou lders a n d  crou ch ed  f ig u r e s  a n d  bad  ankles a n d  fe e t .  B eautifu l w h ite teeth. Pronunciation  p ecu lia r a n d  lisping. P eople seem  to be spoiled not polite.Idiosyncratic ImpressionsAfter having jotted down his first and rather idiosyncratic impressions of the St Kildans and purchasing some 10? yards of cloth for 14 shillings and a bottle of fulmar oil for one shilling, Carmichael continues his narrative:Kissed a St Kilda lassie. A little beauty with dark brown eyes and fresh  complexion about ten or eleven years. Kissed h er so as to have to say that I  kissed a St K ildan lassie. Saw m engo in g  on rocks. Fearful sights. The deep blew  fa thom less ocean roaring many hundred  fe e t  beneath them. Took out the fu lm ars and some eggs. Birds vom itin g o il - pa in fu l sights.Rather surprisingly, Carmichael’s recollection of his journey stops there, but it was the natives themselves rather than the remote location of the island itself that left more of a lasting impression on him. Besides, it was with the express purpose of garnering information from a tradition- bearer called Effie MacCrimmon or Oighrig NicCruimein that Carmichael had travelled to St Kilda in the first place.Something of a D isappointm entAs things turned out the journey was something of a disappointment for Carmichael. Although he managed to get some material down, it was not without a struggle:... w hich th e w riter  took down ... fr o m  E ibhrig Nic C ruim ein, Euphemia MacCrimmon, cottar, a ged  eighty-four years, who had  m any o ld  songs, stories, and  trad itions o f  th e island. I  w ou ld  have g o t  m ore o f  these had  th ere been p ea ce and  quiet to take them  down, bu t his was n ot to be had  am ong a crow d  o f  nava l officers an d  seamen an d  St K ilda m en, w om en  an d  children , and, even  nosier than these, St K ilda dogs, m ade w ith ex citem en t a n d  a l l  barking at once. The a ged  reciter was m uch censured fo r  her recita l o f  these stories an d  poems, an d  the w riter f o r  cau sing th e o ld  woman to stir the recesses o f  h e r  m em ory f o r  this lore; f o r  the p eop le o f  St K ilda ha ve n o t d isca rd ed  songs and  music, dancing, folk lore, an d  the stories o f  thefoo lish  past.As far as is known Alexander Carmichael returned only once to St Kilda and he may well have been dissuaded by the experience of his initial trip to try and collect more about St Kilda or from St Kildans. Nonetheless three pieces were published as Iorram H irteach (St Kilda Lilt), Cha B'e Sgioba na Faiche (It was no Crew of Landsmen) and Oran Luathaidh lortach  (St Kilda Waulking Song) - all of which had been collected from Effie MacCrimmon.NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER 1 7To have Kissed a St Kildan LassiePotrait of Alexander Carmichael c.1899  by W illiam Skeoch CummingThe ConversationAs well as these there is a wonderful piece entitled An Comhradh (The Conversation) which was composed by her parents together during their courtship days, a translated excerpt of which gives a flavour of the whole:He:Thou a rt m y turtle-dove, thou a rt my mavis,Thou a rt m y m elod iou s harp in the sw eet m orningShe:Thou a re m y treasure, m y lovely one, my huntsman,Yesterday thou ga v es t m e th e ga n n et  and  the auk.Introducing these various pieces, Carmichael wrote: ‘Martin reports that the men and women of St Kilda had a genius for poetry, music, and dancing, to all of which they were addicted. Dr Johnson, on the other hand, declared that no good poetry could come from St Kilda.’ By Carmichael’s own admission what he found in St Kilda would probably not have satisfied Johnson, but nevertheless reflects the tenacity of tradition even in places where religious intolerance against it was growing.After whetting his appetite with Iorram Suirghe, Effie begged Carmichael to return the next day so that she could pass on more songs to him. But the island’s minister, the Revd John Mackay, warned him not to ‘trouble’ the old lady again as1 8  SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011To Have Kissed a St Kildan Lassieshe was nearing the end of her life and should not be concerning herself with such secular trivialities. So Carmichael left the island sadly though not completely empty-handed, although the rest of Effie’s songs went with her to the grave.To Ignore Their Own TraditionsIt may be something of coincidence that Carmichael’s first visit was in the year in which Mackay was sent to the island. He had immediately set about imposing a particularly strict religious rule over the islanders. The St Kildans embraced his teaching and began to ignore their own traditions. Though not a personal rebuke to the resident minister, Carmichael was later to express his considerations of narrow-minded clergymen:Is th ere no m in ister o f  religion  courageous enough, ph ilan thropic enough, fa r -s ee in g  enough to com e to th e rescue o f  these in terestingpeop le a n d  brin g them  ou t o f  their slough o f  despond, ou t o f  th eir w indless, waveless, tideless, m otionless doldrum  in to which erroneou s seamanship led  them  and  wherein  th ey exist, a n d  back again  to th eir m any sports, wholesom efunctions andjoyous pastim es o f  theirfather? I f  not, th e tim e m ay com e when these h igh ly en dow ed  m en and  women shall d iscover f o r  them selves that religious dogm as are dry husks an d  that labour w ithout recreation is wearisome.Carmichael, like many others, had taken a great deal of trouble to reach the remotest of the British isles, but did not foresee what was in store for him. However, he did not go home without some of the St Kildans leaving a discernible and lasting impression upon him. ■The Revd John Mackay. Uncomplimentary caricature (above) by John Sands, Out o f  the World; or Life in  St Kilda (Edinburgh, 1878),SCOTTISHISLANDS^"July/August 2011 THE UK'S ONLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO EXPLORING THE ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND £3.75Orcadian OdysseyGetting around OrkneyFormative Tracing StepsMay/June 2011SCOTTISH ISLANDSExplorerFolklore on/ngu/oyIona Influences i : M h o ra n d M o re !Orkney • Shetland • Gigha - and much more . . .  iSCOTTISHISLANDS-September/October 2011 THE UK'S ONLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO EXPLORING THE ISLANDS Of SC0TLAN0 0.75CaledoniartScot/ands Islands Festival ExhibitionPlus: Barra • Schools Hebridean Society - and much more ...a ... mm mmnmMmmSkara BraeOrkney's StonesA Tall Ship IonaPhotographySCOTTISH Back Issues and Binders AvailablePlease c o n ta c t ad m in tasco ttish is lan d sexp lo re r.co m  Y - )  o  Expl°rer fo  r d e ta  i I s, price an d  a v a ila b ility .

'To have kissed a St Kilda lassie'

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