116 BENBECULA. GEOLOGY. 



Tt may truly be said that the population of 60,000 Highland 

 insulars, which according to the ordinary average of 

 European military supply would have afforded 600 soldiers, 

 was defended during the late war by the artisans and 

 manufacturers of England and the low country. The 

 adoption of means to diffuse the spirit of military and 

 naval service throughout these islands would in many 

 respects confer a decided benefit upon them ; not only by 

 affording an useful drain on the population, but by making 

 an inroad on many of those habits which are the ground- 

 work of the evils enumerated. At the same time, the 

 return of disbanded men would have the effect of intro- 

 ducing improvements, which on so many occasions have 

 been the result of similar circumstances. To inquire why 

 this is not done, would be to inquire why so much of that 

 which relates to the improvement, the police, and the 

 general welfare of these islands has been neglected. But 

 it is time to return to the physical history of Benbecula. 



As I have already remarked that the islands of Grimsa 

 and Wia resemble Benbecula in every respect, it is unne- 

 cessary to give any further description of them. That of 

 the one will serve for the whole, as well in the general 

 as in the geological characters. I may only observe, that 

 some parts of the shore of Grimsa exhibit beds of gneiss 

 of extreme tenuity, micaceous, and capable of being 

 detached in thin leaves. 



The whole composition of Benbecula is identical, and 

 consists entirely of gneiss, forming in reality a continua- 

 tion of the rocks of South Uist. This gneiss is found occu- 

 pying the whole of Benbecula hill, as well as almost all 

 the coasts and islands that I examined, and all the pro- 

 tuberances which are scattered over the face of the 

 country. The only exception will be noticed immediately. 

 Its character is as various as that of South Uist and 

 Barra, and it would be difficult to say that any one 



