Its three hundred years since Martin Martin’s great journey around the Western Isles, Orkneys and Shetlands. The first and one of the greatest of all travellers in Scotland, Martin is also unique in being the only native Gaelic speaker amongst them.
This book gives his account of his journey around the Western Isles, which is a unique and authoritative resonance which make it, even today, a mine of information on custom, tradition and life. Martin wrote before the Jacobite rebellions changed the way of life of the Highlander irrevocably.
This volume includes the earliest account of St Kilda, first published in 1697 and Sir Donald Monro, High Dean of the Isles, account written in 1549 which presents a record of a pastoral visit to islands still coping with the aftermath of the fall of the Lords of the Isles.
Three books in one. 1. ‘A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland Circa 1695’ (Martin Martin), 2. ‘A Voyage to St Kilda’ (Martin Martin) and 3. A Description of the Occidental ie. Western Islands of Scotland (Donald Monro).
Contents:
A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland Circa 1695, Martin Martin
Introduction by Charles W.J. Withers
1. Isle of Lewis
2. Of the Inferior and Adjacent Islands
3. The Isle of Harris
4. The Isle of Benbecula
5. The Ancient and Modern Customs of the Inhabitants of the Western Islands of Scotland
6. Courts of Judicatory--Church Discipline--Forms of Prayer
7. A Description of the Isle of Skye
8. The Inferior Isles About Skye
9. The Diseases Known and not Known in Skye--Of the Various Effects of Fishes on Several Constitutions in These Islands--Yeast, How Preserved by Natives--Effects of Eating Hemlock Root--Graddan--Their Habit--Way of Fighting
10. Bute--Arran--Ailsa--Gigha
11. Jura--Colonsay--Mull--Iona
12. Tiree--Coll--Rum--Muck--Cannay--Egg
13. St Kilda, or Hirt
14. An Account of the Second Sight, in Irish called ‘Taish’
15. A Brief Account of the Advantages the Isles Aford by Sea and Land, and Particularly for a Fishing Trade
16. A brief Description of the Isles of Orkney and Shetland etc.
A Late Voyage to St Kilda, Martin Martin
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Description of the Occidental i.e. Western Isles of Scotland, Donald Monro
Introduction by R.W. Munro
Description of Occidental i.e. Western Isles of Scotland
Index
Map
