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Account of Harris, mie of the Districts qfihe Outer Hebrides . 

 Communicated by the Author *. 



./xT a short distance from the mainland of Scotland, and along 

 the western shores of its northern and middle divisions, lies scat- 

 tered an interrupted series of islands of various sizes. These 

 are denominated the Inner Hebrides. Beyond these, and sepa- 

 rated from them by a channel, called the Minch, of variable 

 breadth, from fifteen to forty miles, is extended a continuous 

 range of islands, consisting of five principal masses, with a pro- 

 digious multitude of small islets, from three or four miles dia- 

 meter to a few yards. The direction of the range is north-east 

 and south-west. From the Butt of the Lewis, the most northern 

 point, to Berneray of Barray, otherwise called Barra Head, the 

 most southern, the distance is about 130 miles. It is bound- 

 ed on the east by the Minch, on the west by the Atlantic 

 Ocean. The districts of this range are the following : — Lewis, 

 Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, and Barray. 

 Lewis, the most northern, and Harris, form but one island. The 

 others are distinct islands, although a passage at low water may 

 be made from North Uist to Benbecula, and from the latter to 

 South Uist, over the sands by which they are separated. 



The mainland of Harris is about twenty miles long, and 

 is naturally divided into two districts. The northern, joining 

 Lewis at a boundary of about eight miles, extended from the 

 head of Loch Resort on the west coast, to the turn of Loch 

 Seaforth on the east, and uniting with the southern at an isth- 

 mus named Tarbert, about a quarter of a mile across, consists 

 of a range of lofty, rugged, and sterile mountains, running from 

 east to west, or nearly at right angles to the general direction of 

 the island. One of these mountains, named Clisheim -|-, is the 



• Read before the Wernerian Natural History Society, December 1827. 



■J- Dr MaccuUoch, who gives this mountain the name of Clisseval, esti- 

 mates its height at 2700 feet. He found that of Langa, in its neighbourhood, 

 to be 2407, and, if this be correct, Clisheim, being apparently at least 800 feet 

 higher, is probably nearer the above estimate than the Doctor's. 



