May 23, 1859.] ADMIRALTY SURVEYS— SCOTLAND. 263 



for the ricli copper ore ships, which are frequently obliged to ride 

 out southwesterly gales in this exposed roadstead, will lead the enter- 

 prising merchants of Swansea to consider whether, notwithstanding 

 their recent spirited outlay on docks, they cannot construct a suffi- 

 cient breakwater out of their own resources. The requirements of 

 the Harbours Commission have also led to the publication of a 

 chart of Lundy Isle, on the scale of 4^ inches to a mile, and of the 

 two sheets of the upper portion of the Bristol Channel, on the scale 

 of two inches to a mile, which are rapidly advancing to completion. 



Scotland. — In Argyleshire, Commanders Bedford, f.r.g.s., and 

 Creyke, and Mr. Bourchier, r.n., have been employed on the coasts 

 of Mull, and an useful Chart of the Sound of lona from their survey 

 has been published on the scale of 3 inches to a mile. In this 

 immediate neighbourhood the geographical features of the country 

 have suffered some change from the breaking down of the reser- 

 voirs of the Crinan Canal, caused by the heavy rains. In restoring 

 this navigation, we may express a hope that the dimensions of the 

 locks of this canal will be placed more on a par with those of the 

 Caledonian Canal, so that the greater part of the vessels that navi- 

 gate the one should also be enabled to pass through the other ; seven 

 out of the fifteen locks might also be dispensed with, and an unin- 

 terrupted level be carried from the top of the rise near Loch Gilp 

 Head on Loch Fyne, to the descent into Loch Crinan on the north. 

 This event, too, has again opened the question of the Argyle Canal, to 

 connect by a short link of about one mile East and West Tarbert lochs. 



In Skye, Commander Wood and Mr. Forbes have surveyed twelve 

 miles of the open coast on the south-west face of the island from 

 Loch Bhreatal northwards to Loch Bracadale, including the smaller 

 inlets known by the names of Lochs Eynort and Harport, and the 

 district of Minginish, with its magnificent mural cliffs, rising 800 

 feet almost precipitously from the sea. On the coast of Inverness- 

 shire, Mr. Jeffery has completed the shore line and outlying rocks 

 and soundings as far south as Eu Arisaig. 



In the Hebrides, Captain Otter, in H.M.S. Porcupine, with her 

 tender the Seagull, Lieutenant Chimmo, aided by his staff of 

 Lieutenants Dent and Hawes, and Messrs. Stanley and Cramer,* 



* It is with extreme regret that I mention that the preparing and colouring the sheets 

 containing the survey of Loch Roag was Mr. Cramer's last work: over-anxiety on 

 account of domestic illness, with the rigorous climate of the Hebrides, brought on 

 an attack of disease from which he could not rally, and at the early age of thirty -tive an 

 accomplished artist and an honest, hard-working man was lost to his country. 



VOL. III. X 



