The Ross of Mull 



they are plentiful even before the end of June. Then slowly 

 making their way east, they appear along the Ross of Mull 

 in July, and it is not until the latter end of this month that 

 they penetrate to the land-locked waters of the Sound of 

 Mull from where the ocean is invisible, and on either side 

 tower great hills. 



It is in June and July that the crofters look for the best 

 weather of the season. In July the bell heather is in full 

 bloom, so that its perfume carries far over the sun-baked 

 earth. During this month, too, there come the hosts of that 

 biting fly known as "the cleg," or in the Gaelic, "Creith 

 leag," which with stealthy flight alights upon man and beast 

 and sucks their blood. It is rare that these flies travel far 

 out to sea, though in days of great heat I have known them 

 accompany me throughout a two-mile row. In August the 

 cleg is less in evidence, which is accounted for by the quaint 

 belief that whereas in July he possesses both his eyes, in 

 August he loses one of them, and cannot so accurately see 

 his victims. Amongst the bogs there grows the St. John's 

 wort, known in the Gaelic as "Achlusan Challum-Cille," a 

 plant of magic power when found unexpectedly. 



Throughout its southern coast line much wreckage is 

 washed ashore along the Ross of Mull. From the summit 

 of Beinn an Aonidh I have looked, of a July day, along its 

 shores, and as far as the eye could reach have seen the 

 drift wood piled up at high-water mark. The great cliffs 

 prevent this wreckage being removed by land, and no 

 houses are near enough to allow of boats being rowed hither. 

 These wild cliffs are the haunt of the raven, the buzzard 

 and the peregrine throughout the year. How different In 

 their flight are these three birds. The buzzard and raven 

 are strong, but leisurely fliers. They prefer to secure their 

 food by stealth rather than by dashing flight. The pere- 

 grine is full of vitality of the joy of life and the poetry 

 of swift flight. From his perch on the topmost pinnacle 

 of the precipice, the peregrine, on guard over his nesting- 

 Mi 



