STARVING ISLANDERS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 164, 11 July 1912, Page 3

STARVING ISLANDERS.

LIVING ON -SEABIRDS' EGGS

A CURIOUS SPOT

(N.Z. Herald Correspondent.)

LONDON, May 24. A terrible tale of the suffering and privations of the inhabitants of the lonely Scotch island of St. Kilda, some 50 miles from the Western Hebrides, has been brought to Aberdeen by the steam trawler Strathmore. This vessel touched at the island on the 12th inst. A number of the inhabitants at once manned a boat and went out to her. They had been half-starved for several weeks, they declared, and urgently appealed to'the captain to lot them have whatever provisions he was able to spare. Their ustial provision ship had not arrived owing to continued gales. As soon as their plight became known, a cruiser was despatched to the island with provisions.

The winter has been one of the most severe within the memory of the oldest resident, and the islanders are still waiting for their Christmas mails. When the Strathmore arrived, the food supplies were practically exhausted, and for several weeks the people had been living on siege rations. There was no tea, sugar, or meat, and only a handful of flour. Fortunately, at this> season of the year great flocks of birds are nesting on the island, and their eggs helped to tidn- over the period of terrible stress. Indeed, for the past two or three weeks the eggs of the seabirds formed the staple food of the majority of the islanders . A Hull trawler that passed

gave all the provisions that could be spared, and it was then that the St^ Kildans learned of the great storm on the east coast of Scotland last January, and of the Titanic disaster. The captain of the Strathmoro also left all the provisions he possibry could. Twice since the New Year the usual steamer has endeavored to reach St. Kilda, but the tempestuous seas dashing round the coast of the great rock have rendered communication utterly impossible. St. Kilda is one of the most curious spots in the whole world. The inhabitants number about seventy, and the majority have never seen a street. a mod-am building, or a tree! They attend to the primitive agriciiltnro, di.sr peat for the fires, and milk the cows. The Fulmar petrel forms the

staple food in the winter, and in August the whole population, scale the precipitous clitfs to capture the birds. They are salted and put away for the winter. Between the visits of the provision ship, which also brings news from the outer world and the mails, messages are put into tins fastened to pieces of wood and a bladder, and dropped into the sea when the norfcliwest wind'is blowing. About 10 out of 12 of these messages "reach • ths mainland.