Eigg — Chambers's Encyclopaedia

Eigg, or Egg, a Hebridean island, $7\frac{1}{2}$ miles W. of the mainland of Inverness-shire, and 5 SW. of Skye. With an utmost length and breadth of $6\frac{1}{2}$ and 4 miles, it is 12 sq. m. in area, and culminates in the remarkable Scuir of Eigg (1346 feet), near which are columnar cliffs like those of Staffa. Pop. (1851) 546; (1891) 233. Here in 617 St Donnán and fifty more monks from Iona were killed by the queen, though her people objected that 'that would not be a religious act'; and here, towards the close of the 16th century, 200 Macdonalds, men, women, and children, were smoked to death in a narrow-mouthed cave by Macleod.