Foula 1865

The ministers having accomplished the object of their visit to Fair Isle, made ready to start for the island of Foula, lying about twenty miles west of the mainland of Shetland, and fifty from Fair Isle. Our skipper said that we should have a good tide for Foula at midnight. After a late sermon in the church, which was filled from corner to corner, we made our way to the shore accompanied by a great portion of the congregation. Some had not yet got Bibles, and rowed out with us to the cutter to get them. It was a very striking midnight scene. The clergymen handing Bibles and religious books to a group of eager claimants, the almost breathless stillness of the night, the hour, and the locality, one of the least frequently visited spots under his Majesty's sway, combined to invest the scene with a peculiar interest.

We must, however, get clear of the island before the tide turns. Good-bye is accordingly said, and we set sail much pleased with our visit, and with a very kindly feeling towards those interesting islanders. Owing to the lightness of the wind it took us twenty-eight hours to reach Foula, which from its great height was provokingly visible for a great part of the time. It is not so large as Fair Isle, but more picturesque. Viewed from the east it presents a serrated appearance, having five large hills, the highest of which is above 1400 feet. The inhabitants did not show the same interest in our visit as the Fair Isle men, the reason probably being that they have more frequent intercourse with the mainland, and also because not more than one-fourth of the population belonged to the Established Church. The great majority were Methodists. Dr Elder Cumming remembered having seen, on a similar visit three years before, an old man of ninety-four years of age, and, hearing that he was still alive, we went to see him. He was apparently in good health, and in full possession of his faculties, but a martyr to rheumatism. He gave us a very hearty welcome, and Dr Cumming after some conversation asked if he might read a chapter from the Bible and engage in prayer. The old man readily assented, and the Dr took a seat under the large opening in the roof, which did double duty as chimney and window, and chose the last chapter of Ecclesiastes as specially suitable in a short service for the benefit of one over whose head the summers and winters of ninety-seven years had passed. He listened with the greatest attention, and anxious to show that he understood the scope of the chapter, and that the minister was not spending his labour for that which profiteth not, he accompanied the reading with a running commentary in a subdued but audible voice which was very trying to the reader, and at some parts provocative of more than a broad smile. For example :—

Dr Cumming. " The strong men shall bow themselves."

The Old Man. " I was a strong man ance, but I'm a weak man noo."

Dr Cumming. " And the grinders cease, because they are few."

Old Man. " Ay, that'll be the teethache."

Dr Cumming. " And those that look out of the windows be darkened."

Old Man. " Ay, that'll be when the sicht fails."

Dr Cumming. " Because man goeth to his long home."

Old Man. " We maun a' gang there sometime."

This went on more or less through the whole chapter. The Dr, as the person more immediately concerned, and sitting in the fierce light from the hole in the roof, heroically kept a perfectly grave countenance throughout, but others were not so successful, and truth compels me to admit that " the teethache " was responsible for a sound that cannot be characterised as other than an unsuccessfully suppressed snigger.

I visited almost every island in Shetland, and everywhere was treated with the greatest kindness. During the past quarter of a century almost the whole of my numerous friends there have passed away.