96 TOUR IN THE WESTERN ISLES. 



he stripped, and became, if possible, more cool, as did 

 the men. In this posture of affairs I heard him say, 

 ' God I there's nothing for it!' but instantly the ship 

 righted, though the rolling continued and the sea-sick- 

 ness increased, all men vomiting but myself, who had 

 taken care to shut my eyes for half an hour at first. 

 Next night it grew calmer, and before that, we had a 

 hot dinner. The greatest of my foes was a cascade 

 of rum, the cask being beaten through our cabin 

 window ! The immediate consequence was intoxica- 

 tion ; but this soon went off. 



"Making Islay at 11 o'clock, we landed; and after 

 a little rough admiration, divided into two parties ; 

 one attended Shawfield to Islay House, the other went 

 along the coast to view the country and see a wreck 

 lying at some distance. You may easily believe I 

 was of the latter division. The bay in which the 

 brig was wrecked is nine miles long, and the finest I 

 ever saw : we only wanted a storm to complete the 

 scene. The vessel was cast ashore last November, and 

 is quite dry at low-water. The sailors were all busy 

 trying for the last time to float her round a point of 

 land to Bowmore harbour, where we were landed; and 

 in a few hours they actually succeeded. We saw the 

 wreck raised along by a few barrels, though her bottom 

 is battered to pieces, and her masts cut off by the 

 maintop and foretop. She arrived at two in the morn- 

 ing, and we had her captain to see us all drink. After 

 a botanical and mineralogical walk, our appetite re- 

 minded us of dinner; so a pot was boiled in tent, 



