Canna changes

The photograph of four children participating in the Sports Relief Mile, in glorious sunshine, on the island of Canna (your report, 22 March) was lovely. They looked so healthy and their enthusiasm shone through. According to your report, only 19 people live on this island.

What a contrast to the observations of Thomas Pennant, the Welsh naturalist, traveller and writer, who visited the isle of Rum (a short swim from Canna] on his Hebridean tour in 1772.

He reported: "There is very little arable land … subsistence is poor … they are a well made and well-looking race but, carry famine in their aspect … there is no prospect of any improvement."

Later on, the people on the four isles were cleared from their lands and ended up on the eastern sea-board of Canada.

Last year, a party of Canadians toured Scotland bringing their Celtic musical instruments and Gaelic songs to entertain audiences. Their ancestors came from Canna and they visited the islands as a salute to their forebears and the land that supported them so long ago. Perusal of McNeill's census of the Small Isles Parish in 1765, revealed 250 inhabitants on Canna including four families.

DAVID G C BURNS

Craigmount Hill

Edinburgh