CHAPTER II 



THE occurrence in the Western Islands of Scotland of 

 certain plants Rock Samphire, Sea-Kale, etc. confined 

 elsewhere in Europe to countries lying farther south, points 

 to more equable conditions of climate than have been 

 generally supposed to prevail in these northern latitudes. 

 The Rock Samphire was found in Colonsay in 1906, and two 

 years later on the Mangustra cliffs, a little north of Eilean 

 Molach, on the west coast of Lewis, in lat. 58 5' N. On 

 the authority of Mr Bennett, no station for this plant, out- 

 side Britain, is known in Europe north of lat. 51. The Sea- 

 Kale occurs in Islay, and there is an old record of the finding 

 of it in the Outer Hebrides " head of Lochmaddy, North 

 Uist, on sand, 1848. D. C. Burlingham." 



From the returns of the meteorological stations (as they 

 are printed in the Journals of the Meteorological Society), 

 we find that the Western Islands of Scotland possess a 

 climate which, in mildness and uniformity of temperature, 

 is quite exceptional, and Avithout a parallel in the same 

 latitude. During the months of December and January 

 the mean temperature of those islands lying south of Harris 

 and Skye 41 to 44 F. is reached or exceeded elsewhere 

 in Britain only in the Isle of Man and Anglesea, and in 

 the western and south-western extremities of England and 

 "Wales. The only places in Scotland with a mean tempera- 

 45 



