Skye, an island of Inverness-shire, the second largest of the Hebrides, is separated from the mainland by a channel mile wide at the narrowest, Kyle Rhea. Its extreme length, south-south-eastward, is 49 miles; and its breadth varies from 7 to 25 miles; but on account of the extraordinary number of inlets at all parts of the island no point is above 4 miles from the sea. Area, 643 sq. m.; pop. (1841) 23,082; (1861) 18,908; (1881) 16,889; (1891) 15,700. Skye is for the most part mountainous and moory, but it contains some pleasant tracts of arable and pasture land, and one considerable plain, formerly the bed of a lake, in the parish of Kilmuir, where some ruins of a religious house called after St Columba were found. The rocks are mainly volcanic of Tertiary age; and the principal mountains are the Coolin Hills (not Cuchullin), which stretch irregularly from south-west to north-east, terminating in the sharp peak of Sgurr-nan-Gillean (3167 feet) above Sligachan. Another peak, Sgurr Dearg, has been found to be the highest of the range (3234 feet), but Sgurr-nan-Gillean will still be regarded as the chief of the Coolin Hills. The serrated outline of these hills arrests the eye at a great distance, and forms the dominant feature in the view at almost every point round the island, and far out at sea. The most famous scene in this region is Coruisk ( mile), the 'stern, dread lake' of Scott's Lord of the Isles. Glen Sligachan, ascending miles from the head of Loch Sligachan, is by many considered the grandest glen in the Highlands. The fantastic Quiraing (1779 feet) and the Storr (2360), in the north of the island, offer splendid scenery, as also do many points along the coast—here columnar basalt formations on a grand scale, and there cliffs 1000 feet high, over which leap many waterfalls, and whose bases are frequently worn into deep caves, some of them of historical interest. One, near Portree, afforded a refuge to Prince Charles Edward; another, on the west coast, was the temporary prison of Lady Grange. The largest arms of the sea are Lochs Bracadale, Dunvegan, and Snizort.
The coasts abound in fish, the most important being herring, salmon, cod, and ling; besides oysters are found in several places. The cod and ling fishery is chiefly confined to Lochs Dunvegan and Snizort. There are no rivers of any magnitude; but salmon and sea-trout are got in some of the principal streams, and trout in most of the fresh-water lochs. Deer are not numerous, nor grouse. West Highland cattle are reared to a considerable extent, but sheep-farming on a large scale predominates. The rainfall averages 65 inches, but the climate is mild and healthy. Agriculture in Skye, being comparatively unprofitable, owing to the moisture of the climate, is falling into entire neglect on some of the chief sheep-farms. The soil, however, is in many places excellent, and capable, in dry seasons, of yielding good cereal crops, while for turnips it is peculiarly suited.
The inhabitants are for the most part poor and ill-housed, but well-behaved and intelligent. At one time they contributed largely to the British army—not less than 10,000 private soldiers, it has been calculated, during the long war with France. The number of soldiers now sent from Skye is very small. In the districts where the men practise fishing nearly the whole of the adult males go to the east coast fisheries in summer, while from all parts of the island young men and women go to the south in search of field-labour. Potatoes and fish are the general diet, meat being a rare luxury.
The population is chiefly Celtic, with, however, a considerable Norse admixture. Gaelic is still universally spoken, but is gradually giving place to English. The chief proprietors are still, as of old, Lord Macdonald, whose seat, Armadale Castle in Sleat, is one of the most beautiful in all its surroundings to be seen on the Scottish coasts, and MacLeod of MacLeod, in whose ancient castle of Dunvegan, perched on a headland, Dr Johnson 'tasted lotus' (1773) and Scott slept in the 'Fairy Room' (1814). The principal port of Skye is Portree, a picturesque situated village of 750 inhabitants, to which steamers regularly ply from Glasgow, and also from Strome Ferry, in connection with the Skye Railway thence to Inverness. Other villages, also calling-points of the steamers, are Kyleakin ('Hakon's strait'), Broadford, and Dunvegan. The celebrated whisky generally known as 'Talisker' is made at the distillery of Carabost, at the head of Loch Bracadale. The inhabitants are nearly all Presbyterians, and chiefly adherents of the Free Church.
See Alexander Smith's Summer in Skye (1865), and Robert Buchanan's Hebrid Isles (1883).