BENBECULA. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 99 



BENBECULA. 



THIS island is seven miles in length and eight in breadth, 

 being of an oval shape. Although divided by a channel 

 from the north end of South Uist, it is, in a general 

 view, undistinguishable, the division produced by that 

 channel being so intricate and narrow as to be often 

 invisible. The island of Wia placed at its south-eastern 

 extremity, and that of Grimsa, which lies in the strait 

 that separates it from North Uist, may also in a physical 

 view be conceived to appertain to it, as they present 

 the same aspect and are constituted of the same rocks ; 

 while that of Rona, equally near with Grimsa, will be 

 found both in character and composition to form a part 

 of North Uist. Sundry small islets and rocks are 

 scattered about its eastern side, and in each of the north 

 and south channels which separate it from the neighbour- 

 ing islands. These partake in their nature of the 

 approximate shores, with one .exception which I shall point 

 out in its proper place. 



The eastern side of the island, and the eastern portions 

 of the northern and southern boundaries, are characterized 

 by those tortuous and intricate indentations of the shores 

 which occur in South Uist. But they far exceed these 

 in their capricious sinuosities ; forming a labyrinth from 

 which a stranger, attempting to move among them whether 

 by land or water, is unable to extricate himself. Of 

 these indentations, Loch Uskevagh is the most remark- 

 able, occupying a space of ten or twelve miles in circum- 

 ference, in which the land and water are dispersed among 

 each other in such equal proportions and such minute 

 divisions, that it is difficult to say which predominates. 

 The visitor who attempts to explore it is unexpectedly 

 surprised by the occurrence of new channels and fresh 

 headlands when he had imagined himself at the end of - 

 his voyage ; and in the multiplicity of islands and pro- 



