St Kilda, island, Harris par., Outer Hebrides, Inverness-shire, pop. 77; is the chief islet, and the only inhabited one, of a rocky group lying far out in the Atlantic, 40 miles W. of the NW. extremity of North Uist; measures about 7 miles in circumference, has precipitous cliffs on its coasts, and a maximum alt. of 1220 ft. The islets swarm with myriads of seafowl, which are killed in great numbers by the inhabitants for the feathers and also for the oil which some species yield. Very little of the soil is cultivated; some sheep and cattle are reared.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))