268 SKY. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



form. Pinnacles and projecting crags darkly indenting 

 the sky rise along the whole line, marking by their acute- 

 ness and permanence the durability of the rock of which 

 they are composed, and indicating to the mineralogist 

 a difference of composition between these and the neigh- 

 bouring mountains which on a nearer examination he 

 finds actually to exist. These differences will be the 

 subjects of future discussion, but I may add that nothing 

 more forcibly strikes the spectator in contemplating these 

 mountains than this unequal durability of the two por- 

 tions into which they are thus divided. 



The chief part of the dark group consists of the Cu- 

 chullin hills. These form a curved ridge, rising from the 

 shores of Loch Brittle and the sound of Soa with a rapid 

 and rocky ascent ; being obscurely divided into six summits, 

 and the whole terminating towards the east in an almost con- 

 tinued precipitous face deeply furrowed by torrents. Some 

 lower, but equally rocky hills, of similar composition and 

 character, unite with them to enclose the lake Coruisk ; 

 while Blaven, forming a long acute ridge in a position still 

 more easterly, rises above the whole ; constituting the 

 highest mountain in the island, and completing, with its 

 bare and rocky surface, this dark and rugged mass. 



To the northward of this group, on the western side 

 of the island, the land continues high and hilly, but is 

 no longer mountainous ; its general elevation lying between 

 600 and 1000 feet, and its undulating surface being almost 

 every where covered by brown heath, so as to present 

 a dreary uninteresting appearance. The green pastures 

 of Loch Brittle and Loch Eynort, the little valley of 

 Talisker, and the low, open, and cultivated tract of Braca- 

 dale, form the only considerable exceptions to this general 

 character. I may however add that the promontory to the 

 west of Dimvegan appears to rise into hills somewhat 

 higher than the general elevations above mentioned ; the 

 two flat topped eminences called Macleod's tables being 

 conspicuous at a distance, not less from their rcsem- 



