CuchuUin Hills in Skye. 79 



the form is attributed to the pasty consistence of the matter 

 during ejection, without so great an explosive force as to clear 

 an open vent through it. The Cuchulling, as has been said, 

 recall granitic forms, but invested with a blackness and ste- 

 rility which, taken as a whole, even few active volcanoes pre- 

 sent. 



The first step to a physical description of a country, espe- 

 cially of a mountain group, must be some approximation to a 

 plan of its parts. This has been hitherto wholly awanting for 

 this part of Scotland. In Arrowsmith's map the lake of 

 Coruisk, in the centre of the Cuchullins, is unnoticed, and 

 the hills themselves are put in absolutely at random. 

 Nor has Dr MacCulloch much improved matters in his en- 

 larged map of the Island, contained in his " Description of 

 the Western Islands." The lake is there, but this is all that 

 can be said. In short, I am aware of no attempt to trace 

 the topography of these i*emarkable hills. 



On my first visit to Skye, in 1837, I succeeded in readiing 

 the summit (then deemed inaccessible), which passes for the 

 highest of the CuchuUin hills ; and this fact having come 

 to the knowledge of Colonel Colby, he made the peak in 

 question a principal station of the trigonometrical survey, 

 and a cairn was built upon it by his engineers, which has, 

 however, already given way to the fury of the elements. 

 Though connected with the triangulation from other distant 

 points, no surveying instruments have yet, I believe, been 

 taken to Skye ; consequently, the complete survey of this 

 country, which we look forward to, is, as yet, indefinitely 

 postponed.* During my third and last visit to Skye this 

 year, I sketched, in the course of my walks, the general to- 

 pography of the CuchuUin group, so far as I could judge of 

 it by the eye ; and this rough sketch accompanies the present 

 paper, in order to give an idea of the disposition of the parts 

 which we have to describe, and as conveying, perhaps, a ge- 

 nerally correct idea of the disposition of the hills and valleys, 

 although without a regular scale. (See Plate IV.) 



* Since this was written I have been informed that the Coast Survey 

 of the northern part of Skye has been made. 



