Soay, Skye Elgol. The island is part of the Cuillin Hills National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland. The name derives from Old Norse "Sauða-ey" meaning "Sheep Island". Camas nan Gall (G: "Bay of Foreigners") is probably named after the Norse invaders, after whom the Hebrides ("Na h-Innse Gall") are also named. The population peaked at 158 in 1851, following eviction of crofters from Skye in the Highland Clearances. In 1946, author Gavin Maxwell bought the island and established a factory to process shark oil from basking sharks. The enterprise was unsuccessful, lasting just three years. Maxwell wrote about it in
Scottish island names now extinct Cumbric language. These are collectively known as the Brythonic languages. It is clear that whenever place names are recorded at an early date as having been transposed from a form of P-Celtic into Gaelic that this occurred prior to the transformation from "Old British" into modern Welsh. There are numerous Scottish place names with Brythonic roots although the number of island names involved is relatively small. The Pictish language offers considerable difficulties. It is a term used for the language(s) thought to have been spoken by the Picts, the people of northern and central Scotland in the Early