314 APPENDIX. 



held the eyries of the white-tailed eagle and peregrine 

 falcon. To the northward are more islands off Loch 

 Inchard ; and Bulgie Island, famous for the booming 

 sound of the great Atlantic waves which dash wildly into 

 the half-submerged cavern on its north-west side, and 

 which is heard miles out at sea by sailors on board the 

 passing ships. Along the north coast are several islands, 

 of which, perhaps, the most remarkable is the Island of 

 Garbh, or the rough island, so named from the extremely 

 hard nature of its limestone rock, and the excrescences or 

 nodules of still harder lime fossils of crustaceae, which, 

 having resisted the action of air and water, jut out hard 

 and unyielding from the almost equally impervious 

 matrix. This island alone is well worth a visit, both by 

 the botanist and the collector of fossil Crustacea. Near 

 Tongue, and off the entrance to the Kyle of Tongue, are 

 Rhon Island and Rabbit Island, the former frequented 

 by seals (Phoca mtulina), and the latter swarming with 

 rabbits, and visited daily by eagles and other birds of 

 prey which delight in rabbit flesh. Most of these islands 

 are frequented by various sea-fowl, eider ducks on the 

 north coast, in small numbers, and gulls and terns, puffins 

 and rock-birds ; but in this respect Handa near Scourie 

 stands pre-eminent, and is deserving of a few remarks 

 apart from the rest. 



Handa can most easily be visited from Scourie Bay, or, 

 if the wind is too strong or unfavourable, by walking 

 three miles to Tarbert, and there hiring a boat across the 

 narrow sound which separates Handa from the mainland. 

 There are many good sailors at Scourie and Tarbert, but 

 the two who, perhaps, most fully fulfil the wants of a 

 stranger by combining seamanship, fisher-lore, and cliff- 

 climbing, are the two brothers Donald and Peter Mathieson. 

 Any one going to Handa should be amply provided with 

 sea-fishing gear, because, round its cliff -base and along 

 shore, some of the finest sea-fishing can be had. "We have 

 assisted at the taking of 2j cwts. of lythe and coal-fish 

 during a few hours, out from Scourie, at 5 P.M. and back 

 at 8 or 9 ; and, in a single tide, a little farther to the 



