CHAPTER XIV.
Colonsay Archie, having little else to do, spent much of his time in fishing.
As a boy he had learned to be fond of the sport in the stream of Glen Cairn; but the sea was new to him, and whenever the weather permitting he used to go out with the natives in their boats.

The Irish coast was but a few miles away, but there was little traffic between Rathlin and the mainland.

The coast there is wild and forbidding, and extremely dangerous in case of a northerly gale blowing up suddenly.

The natives were a wild and savage race, and many of those who had fought to the last against the English refused to submit when their chiefs laid down their arms, and took refuge in the many caves and hiding places afforded in the wild and broken country on the north coast.
Thus no profitable trade was to be carried on with the Irish mainland.

The people of Rathlin were themselves primitive in their ways.