GENERAL DESCRIPTION 29 



vessel, but of the crew of twenty-three six men were 

 drowned. 



Machrins, to the casual tourist, is perhaps the best-known 

 locality in the island, for lying along the shore between 

 Maol Chlibhe and Druim Sligeach is that stretch of undulat- 

 ing machair land that holds such a fascination for the golfer, 

 Machrins golf-links. Here, while he enjoys his game, the 

 player may view a combination, on a small scale, of sea- 

 coast scenery of bluff headland and receding sandy bay that 

 is difficult to beat. Stretching out to sea and rising abruptly 

 from the Atlantic, Dun Ghallain named after Gallan, who 

 was reputed to be a son of the King of Lochlann formed 

 an easily defended site for the fort that once crowned its 

 summit. Flanked on either side by pretty sandy beaches 

 Traigh an Tobair Fhuair on the north and Port Lobh on 

 the south this headland was well adapted for defensive 

 purposes. 



From the ruins of the old fort at the top an extended 

 view is obtained of the rock-bound coast from Kilchattan 

 south beyond Ardskenish. Huge green seas rise over sunken 

 rocks far out from shore, sometimes passing onwards with 

 white and curling crests, sometimes breaking into surging 

 masses of snowy foam. Bogha Samhach, one of the most 

 treacherous of these sunken rocks, lies in the path of boats 

 going north and south ; the seas giving warning of its pres- 

 ence only by breaking occasionally and at unexpected 

 moments. In the cliffs underneath the fort deep, gurgling 

 caverns are grooved and worn by the ceaseless waves. 

 Huge banks of rolled stones and gravel of every grade 

 of fineness have been piled up by the Atlantic rollers 

 at Rudha Aird-alanais and at Garbh Chladach. Inland, 

 the golf-links and the arable land of Machrins form a 

 pretty foreground of undulating sward backed in the 

 distance by rugged and heath-clad hills; farther off, the 

 outline of the misty hills of surrounding islands is seen. 



