 Despite the chaplain 's best efforts , the islanders ' isolation and dependence on the bounty of the natural world meant their philosophy bore as much relationship to Druidism as it did to Christianity until the arrival of Rev. John MacDonald in 1822 . Macauley ( 1764 ) reported the existence of five druidic altars , including a large circle of stones fixed perpendicularly in the ground near the Stallir House on Boreray . 
