SKYE, after Lewis, the largest of the Scotch islands, and the most N. of the Inner Hebrides, is included in Inverness shire ; area, 547 square miles. Separated from Ross-shire in the N. W. by the Sound of Rona, and from Inverness in the S. W. by the Sound of Sleat, it ap proaches within half a mile of the main land between these two channels at Kyle Rhea. It is very irregular in shape, and is so cut up by inlets that no part of it is more than 4 miles from the sea. The chief inlets, all toward the W. and N., are Lochs Eishort, Slapin, Scavaig, Bra cadale, FolTart, and Snizort; the princi pal headlands are Aird Point, Ru-Huinish, Dunvegan Head, and Vaternish Point, which are extremities of the peninsulas of Duirinish, Vaternish, and Trotternish in the N., and Sleat Point in the S. Its extreme length from Aird Point to Sleat Point is 47 miles; its greatest breadth, from Portree to Copnahow Head, 22 miles. Skye is a wild, highland country, and its rocky mountains and pale headlands are shrouded in the mists of the Atlantic.
The S. portion, however, is "comparatively soft and green," the long promontory of Sleat being the "best wooded, the sun niest, and the most carefully cultivated" part of Skye, with its larch plantations and trim hedgerows.
The inhabitants are mainly Celtic, and universally speak Gaelic, though the use of English is gradually increasing. There is a strong Norse infusion, and the names of the N. headlands are Norwegian, not Gaelic. The chief families in Skye are the Macdonalds of Sleat, who trace their descent to the Lords of the Isles, and the Macleods, originally Norsemen, who still occupy old Dunvegan Castle. The island is historically interesting as the home of Flora Macdonald and the refuge of Prince Charles. At the old house of Kingsburgh Flora entertained Dr. John son and Boswell in 1773. The grave of Flora in the churchyard of Kilmuir, was marked by the erection of an Iona cross, a granite monolith 28 feet high, in No vember, 1871. Pop. about 13,000.