The northern parts of Britain presented at this juncture many attractions to induce the saint to select that region as a fit theatre for his future labors. On the Northern Picts the light of the Gospel had not yet shone. It is true that the Scots, a neighboring colony from Ireland professed Christianity, but the glories of religion had been almost shorn of their splendor, and it required an apostolic zeal to reinvest them with all their interest, and rekindle the sacred fire now slumbering under the embers of sinful indifference. The prospect of rescuing the Picts from their idolatry, and of reviving among the Scots connected with him by the ties of kindred and country, the fervent piety which so pre-eminently distinguished their common ancestry, afforded, though fraught with difficulty, the purest pleasure to the soul of Columba, and which pleasure was heightened by the hope, that in this region also he might be able to diffuse those monastic institutions, which had so much benefited and become the pride and glory of Ireland. In the vicinity of that part of Caledonia where St. Columba chose to begin his new career, there is a cluster of isles known at the present day by the synonyme of "The Hebrides," which isles, or at least some of them, seem to have then been subject to the prince who ruled over the Scottish colony which had settled in Caledonia. The sequestered site of the present Hebrides admirably adapted them for the seclusion of the monastic life, and in such a retreat as they afforded, the saint felt convinced that the followers of his institute might devote themselves most freely to the holy exercises of the cloister. His connection with Conall, the sovereign of the above colony, (for Conall, like Columba, was lineally descended from the Dalradian dynasty,) gave reason to hope that he might obtain permission to found a monastery in one of these islands: he sought it and was successful; Hy, the smallest of them, now distinguished by the name of Icolmkille, being generously bestowed upon him by the prince for his use and that of his children in Christ. Taking twelve of these with him, Columba sailed from Ireland, and the weather proving propitious, all safely arrived at Hy of the Hebrides. The great things operated there for God deserve, and shall find place in a new chapter. [1] Lingard's Anglo-Saxon Church. CHAPTER III. ARRIVAL OF ST. COLUMBA WITH HIS MONKS IN HY, WHERE HE BUILDS A CHURCH AND MONASTERY--HE PREACHES TO THE NORTHERN PICTS, AND WORKS TWO STUPENDOUS MIRACLES--OTHER MISSIONARY LABORS OF THE SAINT--HIS CONNECTION STILL WITH IRELAND AND INTEREST IN IRISH AFFAIRS--HE RETURNS TO THAT COUNTRY AND MAKES THE VISITATION OF HIS MONASTERIES, &c.