The Mentor: Scotland, the Land of Song and Scenery, Vol. 1, Num. 10, Serial No. 10, April 21, 1913 / A Trip Around the World with Dwight L. Elmendorf

by Dwight L. Elmendorf

THE SCOTTISH ISLES

Months could be profitably spent in touring through the Isles of Scotland, and they would be months of unalloyed delight. Two small islands should be visited even in the course of the briefest Scottish tour, the Island of Iona, where Saint Columba, the missionary, landed from Ireland in 563, to begin his missionary work in Scotland, and on which are to be found the tombs of ancient Scottish, Irish, and Norwegian kings.

For over a thousand years the Island of Iona was the chosen “God’s Acre” for the great chieftains. The land was held sacred on account of Columba, and it was regarded as the securest spot on earth for mortal remains to rest in. Therefore the bodies of kings were taken there even from distant points in Ireland and in Norway, and for centuries Iona was the Mecca of religious pilgrims who went there to pray and to pay reverent tribute to the tombs of the great.

BEDROOM OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS

Visited by many every year, this is the most interesting spot in Holyrood Castle.