IONA, DESCRIPTION, 



IONA.* 



THE historical and antiquarian celebrity of this little 

 island renders it an object of perpetual attraction to the 

 numerous visitors who now annually frequent these 

 regions, so lately almost unknown to any but the natives 

 and those immediately connected with them. Being easy 

 of access, and occupying but little of the time usually 

 allotted to StafFa, the prime object of attraction, it is the 

 resort of all who have, in defiance of the rude seas or 

 still ruder rocks of Mull, penetrated thus far, either in 

 search of the picturesque or for the gratification of 

 general curiosity. Added to this, the descriptions of 

 Cordiner, Pennant, and others, with the remarks of 

 Doctor Johnson, have made its history nearly as familiar 

 as its name; giving it, in fact, an importance to which 

 it possesses no claims, either from the antiquity or extent; 

 the beauty or curiosity, of its architectural remains. In 

 any other situation, the remains of lona would be con- 

 signed to neglect and oblivion; but connected as they 

 are with an age distinguished for the ferocity of its 

 manners and its independence of regular government, 

 standing a solitary monument of religion and literature^ 

 such as religion and literature then were, the mind im* 

 perceptibly recurs to the time when this island was the 

 " light of the western world," " a gem in the ocean ;" 

 and is led to contemplate with veneration its silent and 

 ruined structures. Even at a distance, the aspect of the 

 Cathedral, insignificant as its dimensions are, produces a 

 strong feeling of delight in him, who, long coasting 

 the rugged and barren rocks of Mull, or buffetted by 

 turbulent waves, beholds its tower first rising out of 

 the deep; giving to this desolate region an air of civiliza- 

 tion, and recalling the consciousness of that human 



* See the Map of MulL 



