North Uist and South Uist

North Uist, and South Uist islands, two of the Outer Hebrides , Western Isles council area, NW Scotland. North Uist (1985 est. pop. 3,300), is 18 mi (29 km) long and 13 mi (21 km) wide, with a much indented coast (Lochs Maddy, Eport, and others). The east is hilly and boggy, but the west has some fertile land. Lochmaddy is the chief town. Most of the inhabitants are crofters. South Uist (1985 est. pop. 4,600) is c.22 mi (35 km) long and 7 mi (11 km) wide, with Lochs Boisdale, Eynort, and Skiport indenting the east coast. A testing range for rockets was erected there in 1954. Lochboisdale is the leading town, and the village of Milton was the birthplace of the Jacobite heroine Flora Macdonald . North Uist and South Uist are separated from each other by Benbecula and several smaller islands; the main islands and two smaller ones are linked by bridges and causeways.

Uist [ScG uibhist]. Two large islands in the Outer Hebrides, North Uist [Uibhist a Tuath], 118 square miles, and South Uist [Uibhist a Deas], 141 square miles, where Scottish Gaelic continues to be spoken at the end of the 20th century. Although both islands are rich in archaeological sites comparable to the celebrated Callanish of the Isle of Lewis, the Roman Catholic Southern island has been a greater reservoir of storytelling than has the Protestant North.

Bibliography

See Stories from South Uist, Told by Angus MacLellan, trans. J. L. Campbell (London, 1961);
Francis Thompson , The Uists and Barra (Newton Abbot, UK, 1974).

Uist (island) W. Isles. Iuist 1282, Ouiste 1373. ‘Inner abode’. OScand. í + vist. This is a Scandinavian reinterpretation of a pre-Celtic name.