45* SITUATIONS FOR TOWNS 



Oppofitc this Loch, at the diftancc of 2 miles, is 

 the illc of Sky, 54 miles in length, i-ijiul in dimen- 

 fions to Chcfhire, and containing 15,000 inhabitants. 

 Though the ifland is, upon thcwhol- ntinucd 



ifs of heath and mountains, it exports 3 or 400x3 

 black cattle annually, and hath ibmc fpots ot ferti- 

 lity, particularly the diitricl: of Strath, which lies 

 contiguous to Loch Urn. To this great iiland 

 therefore the propofed market town will be rlUnti- 

 ally beneficial, as well as to the Icflcr iQands of 

 Canay, Rum, Scalpa, Rafay and Rona. Loch 

 Urn is alfo in the neighbourhood of Bcrnera, the 

 -ufual pafs between the continent and Sky, furnifhcd 

 with barracks fufficient to lodge 200 men, and from 



Lightfoot and Stuart Tallied out in high fpirits to botanife ; I de- 

 fcended to my boat, to make the voyage ot" the lake. 



Steer fouth-eaft. After a finall Ipace the water widens into a 

 large bay, bending to the fouth, which bears the name of Barrif- 

 dale ; turn fuddenly to the eait, and pafs through a very narrovr 

 ftrait, with ieveral little ifles on the outlide, the wafer ot a great 

 depth, and the tide violent. For 4 miles before us the loch was 

 ftraight, but of an oval form, then fuddenly contracts a fecond 

 time. Beyond that was another reach, and an inftaneous and agrce- 

 abl a great fleet of bufles (Auguft 6) and all the bufy ap- 



paratus of the herring rimery ; an unexpected fight at the diftance 

 of thirteen miles from the lea. A little further the loch has a very 

 narrow inlet to a third reach, this {trait is fo mallow as to be fordable 



rhe ebb of fpring tides ; yet has within, the depth often and 

 leventeen fathom : the length is about a mile ; the breadth a 

 quarter. About ieven years ago it was fo filled with herrings, 

 that had crowded in, that the boats could not force their way, and 

 thoufands lay dead on the ebb. 



The fcenery that lurrounds the whole of this lake, has an alpine 

 wildncfs and magnitia- ..ills of an enormous height, and 



for the moil part cloathcd with cxtenlivc forcfts of oak and birch, 

 often to the very fummits. In many places are extenfive tracts of 

 open fpacc, verdant, and only varied with a few trees fcattcred 



r them : amidft the thickcft woods afnire vaft grey rocr 

 noble contraft ! nor are the lofty headlands a lefs embcllimment ; 

 through the trees that wave on their fummit, is an awful fight 

 of iky, and fpiring fummits of vaft mountains. 



On the fouth tide, or the country of Knodyart, are vaft num- 

 bers of pines, fcattered among the other trees, and multitudes of 

 young ones fpringing up. 



whence 



