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CHAPTER XVII. 



STOENOWAY. 



AFTER all I liave said of the Lews I must 

 not forget its capital, Stornoway the 

 magnificent, the London of the Hebrides ; the 

 city of merchants, the grand emporium in those 

 northern climes of cod and ling, herrings and 

 haddock. It beats the world, and Dublin Bay 

 to boot, for the haddies, and everything for 

 the herrings except Yarmouth and the Dutch 

 coast. How cheery and pleasant it looks of a 

 bright morning, with its white houses in a sort 

 of amphitheatre round the bay, and up the 

 rising ground above, flashing in the sun as you 

 sail in ; the castle standing well to the left, a 

 good feature in the landscape, till they spoilt it 

 by tacking on a wretched conservatory, Crystal 

 Palace fashion, to it. Who the mischief ever 

 saw a conservatory hanging on to a baronial 

 castle, like a Chinese pagoda ? 



When first I knew this great capital it was a 



