Uist

Uist, NORTH, an island of the Outer Hebrides, 65 miles SSW. of Stornoway. It is 18 miles long from west to east, and from 3 to 13 miles in breadth. The eastern half of it is so cut up by lochs and watercourses as to have the appearance of an archipelago—a brown, peaty, dreary bog, partly relieved, however, by a line of hills (1133 feet) running along the coast. In the west part, which as a rule is hilly (1500 feet), there is a tract of uneven, low land, exceedingly beautiful in certain seasons, rendered fertile by the drifting of shell-sand from the coast, and producing good clover and grain crops. Pop. 3371.—SOUTH UIST, 36 miles SW. of Lochmaddy in North Uist, Benbecula lying between them, has a maximum length and breadth of 22 and 7½ miles. Its east coast is much indented by Lochs Skiport, Eynort, and Boisdale. The eastern district is hill or mountainous (2035 feet); the western is alluvial and productive under proper treatment. Pop. 3825 crofters, engaged in fishing and agriculture, and almost all Catholics.