16 COLONSAY 



position at every spring tide. The Common Seal has its 

 young in spring and early summer. 



Approached by steamer from the east it has been said that 

 "Colonsay has a barren, uninviting appearance, the shores 

 being rocky and often precipitous, and the prospect inland 

 being closed by bare, rugged hills. But the interior is 

 extremely fertile, showing wide stretches of pasture-land 

 and good agricultural farms." l The harbour is in the eastern 

 outlet of the more southern and lesser of two valleys 

 containing the bulk of the arable land, which cross the island 

 from side to side. In a prominent position on Cnoc-ua- 

 Faire, overlooking the harbour, stands a granite obelisk 

 erected by the inhabitants to the memory of Lord Colonsay, 

 a former proprietor of the island and a well-known lawyer 

 of the Victorian era. He was Lord Justice General of 

 Scotland from 1851 to 1873, when he was created Baron 

 and made first Lord of Appeal from Scotland. Westward 

 from the harbour lie the farms of Scalasaig and Machrins ; 

 the latter extending to the western shore, and including 

 within its borders a well-situated golf-course. The mansion- 

 house, policies, and home-farm, and the crofting district 

 of Kilchattan occupy the greater portion of the northern 

 valley. In depressions among the hills in the north- 

 east and south of the island are other farms and crofting 

 townships. 



A survey from a few points of vantage will discover that 

 the two valleys just referred to are closed in by three main 

 tracts of hills : one in the north, one in the centre, and another 

 in the south. The arable land is thus sheltered from cold 

 northerly winds, an important consideration from an agri- 



1 " Notes on the Geology of Colonsay and Oronsay," by James Geikie, 

 LL.D., F.R.S., F.R.S.E., etc., of H.M. Geological Survey (Trans- 

 actions of the Geological Society of Glasgow, vol. vi. partii., 1878-79, 

 1879-80). 



