IN THE HIGHLANDS 81 



on the property. I had heard there were the ruins of 

 an old cathedral, and I saw it on the left hand, so, having 

 got an intelligent-looking man as a guide, we went into 

 the burying-ground which surrounds the ruins. The 

 ground is high, and the view from there extremely 

 pretty. The broken edifice contains a good many 

 monuments. It was the burial-place of some of the 

 Macleod chiefs of Skye and Harris and other noted folk 

 of the days long gone by. There were some very curious 

 figures on the wall. The building had been, unfortun- 

 ately, nearly destroyed by fire years ago. 



" At Rodal there is a quay with a small snug harbour 

 which can be entered from two directions, but, I believe, 

 not at low tide . We returned as we came. The evening 

 was fine, but the wind high. Having paid for the use 

 of the pony, that had behaved well, and got some milk 

 we wished to go on board, but on account of the tide 

 being out our boat could not come for us, so we were 

 obliged to have some men at a cottage roused up (it 

 was past 10 p.m.), and they ferried us across a sort of 

 inlet that was in our way, and then after a little walk 

 we came to the shore, where our boat was waiting us. 

 On our talking to the pilot, he said the tide would serve 

 soon after break of day, and he would then endeavour 

 to proceed. Once out of the sound, which was in all 

 eight miles in length, the north wind would not be so 

 much against us, for as soon as we reached the open 

 Atlantic we should go direct west. The Sound of Harris 

 is considered very dangerous for the navigation of 

 vessels. It is full of rocks, numbers of which are 

 sunken at a short distance from the surface of the water, 



6 



