BAItllA AND RONA. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



SULISKER/ NORTH RONA* 



THESE islands, although at a considerable distance from 

 each other, are usually associated by the joint appellation 

 of Barra and Rona, but they are scarcely known except 

 to the mariners who navigate the north sea and to the 

 inhabitants of Lewis, of which estate they form a part. 

 They are the northernmost of the Western islands, the 

 Thulc of the other islanders, who consider them as placed 

 " far from the sun and summer gale," and beyond the 

 limits of the habitable world. To have visited Barra and 

 Rona gives a claim to distinction scarcely less in their 

 estimation than to have explored the sources of the Nile 

 or the Niger. Their latitude is stated in the common 

 tables at 58 54' and 55', Sulisker being one minute south 

 of Rona; while the longitude of the former is marked 

 6 4' and that of the latter 5 51' west. In Arrowsmith's 

 map they are laid down still less correctly in 58 46' 

 latitude, t 



* The sail rock. Sail, a sail. No room could be found for these 

 islands in the map without extending it to an inconvenient length. 



f There is reason to suspect that these latitudes are materially incor- 

 rect ; a circumstance interesting to ships navigating the north sea, as 

 they lie in a frequented track, and, from their small size and elevation, 

 may easily escape notice , particularly in hazy weather. My departure 

 was taken from Cape Wrath, and having by the evening run down the 

 course as indicated, no land could be seen. The weather proving thick, 

 it became doubtful whether we should rind them, and the vessel was hove 

 to for the night. The day breaking with a bright yellow horizon, Barra 

 was seen bearing north about twelve miles. Having beat up to Rona by 

 mid-day the sun shone out and permitted an observation to be taken, by 

 which I found its latitude to be 59 10', being about thirteen miles 

 north of that assigned by the tables. The distance between them as run 

 by the log appeared to be about nine miles. The journals of the For- 

 tunee give the longitude (hy account) of Rona at 5 42', and of Barra 

 at 6, and tho latitude of the former from a mean of bearings at 59? 9'. 



