Life and death on remote St. Kilda

From: Chicago Sun-Times | Date: August 19, 1990| Author: | Copyright information

ST. KILDA From St. Kilda's clifftops, the tallest in the British Isles at 1,397 feet, the island men for centuries descended by rope to harvest the seabirds and eggs that formed the mainstay of their diet.

It was a dizzying and hazardous occupation that gave rise to the euphemism for death in this most remote British settlement, some 45 miles northwest of the Outer Hebrides in the North Atlantic.

"He's gone over," was the expression - the vivid image of a final plunge from life into the crashing surf below.

In 1930, after 2,000 years of habitation, St. Kilda saw its remaining ...

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