The Monach Isles

The Monach Isles (Eilean Heisgeir) are a group of three larger islands, and six smaller ones, with a population of a hundred people, most of them of Shetlandic descent (evidenced by the fact that they had kilns inside their houses, like those present in the Shetland Isles, and that the most prominent family, Clann 'ic Mhanuis, seem to be from Shetland). Some of the finest sailors in the Lordship of the Isles are descended from the Clann 'ic Mhanuis, which is one of the largest families on the islands. They are responsible for hunting the whales, basking sharks, and seals in the Rockall Trench, the equivalent of sailing a distance the length of the British Isles out to sea, and they and the locals bring much of the meat back to the Lordship of the Isles, with the assistance of fleets from the Isle of Lewis.

The larger of the Monach Isles, Ceann Ear, is home to a nunnery, and there is a monastery in the northeast, and it is also home to the largest settlement of the Lordship of the Isles west of the Isle of Lewis. Ceann Iar and Shillay, to the west, are uninhabited besides the town of Baile Beag, but they are the one of the best places to hunt seals in the Lordship of the Isles.

At low tide, the islands are connected, and it is possible to walk to Baleshare and North Uist, five miles away (it is said that a tidal wave in the 16th century washed this, and other parts of the Monach Isles which seem to have been considerably bigger, away).