The New Student's Reference Work/Skye
Skye (skī), the largest island of the Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland. It is 49 miles long and from seven to 25 broad. It is mountainous, with a few tracts of pasture and one large plain. The highest peak of the mountains, called Coolin Hills, is 3,234 feef "high. Lake Coruisk, the “dread lake” of Scott's Lord of the Isles, and Glen Sligachan, thought to be the grandest glen in Scotland, with columns and cliffs over 1,000 feet high, with waterfalls leaping over them and deep caves at their foot, are among the interesting scenery. Fish abound, and with potatoes form the main diet of the people and also furnish the principal industry. The inhabitants (who chiefly are crofters) are principally Celtic, speak Gaelic, and number 14,608. The principal proprietors are Lord Macdonald and MacLeod of MacLeod. Consult Smith's A Summer in Skye.