264 ckuises. 



about sixty miles long, and containing seventeen thou- 

 sand tenants, great and small. The kindness and hos- 

 pitality of both Mr and Mrs Matheson are overflowing, 

 if not unexampled. When we called, they would not 

 hear of our not dining and spending the remainder of 

 the day with them ; and when they heard that Mr 

 Primrose and I had to visit a fishing station near the 

 Butt, or north end of the island, they insisted on our 

 bringing our things ashore with us at dinner-time, that 

 we might sleep all night at the castle, and start more 

 comfortably next morning. Meanwhile, Mr Matheson 

 arranged that the factor should accompany us to the 

 station in question, which we afterwards found to be 

 an immense advantage, as he knew all the places, and 

 could speak all the languages of the Lews. 



" The castle is a very imposing pile, built just above 

 the village or town of Stornoway, and, when viewed from 

 the sea, seeming to overrule it in a very lordly way. It 

 occupies the exact site of Seaforth Lodge, the more 

 humble dwelling of the now extinct chiefs of the clan 

 Mackenzie, who bore the title of Lord Seaforth. You walk 

 under an arched portico, leading into a handsome entrance- 

 hall, and this hall is continued almost all through the 

 interior of the castle, from end to end, in the form of a 

 lengthened and lofty corridor, from one side of which 

 branch off the various public rooms. We were led from 



