Scalpay

   SCALPAY, an island, in the parish of Harris, district of Lewis, county of Inverness; containing 31 inhabitants. This is a nearly circular island, lying at the entrance to East Loch Tarbert, and separated from the main land of Harris by the narrow strait of Scalpay sound. Its dimensions are not easily ascertained, owing to its parts being scarcely coherent, from a singular intervention of lakes and of arms of the sea jutting through it in various directions; the two extreme points from east to west may, however, be computed about three miles distant. The surface is low, and covered for the most part with heath. On the eastern extremity is a lighthouse, erected in 1788; and near the western extremity are two of the best harbours in the Hebrides, much resorted to by foreign shipping. The island is called by mariners the Isle of Glass.