SKY. COAST SCENERY. 279 



attaining the great elevation which they reach between 

 Talisker and Loch Eynort. They often present a sin- 

 gularly striped appearance, from the great variety of 

 colours in the several beds which compose them; of 

 which twelve or more may in different places be counted, 

 all horizontal and tolerably equal in their dimensions. 

 The forms of these cliffs are far too monotonous and 

 too square to afford subjects for the pencil, every part 

 being marked by a general similarity of character. Near 

 the entrance of Loch Bracadale some variety is pre- 

 sented by the three detached and pyramidal rocks 

 called Macleod's Maidens, the highest of which appears 

 to reach to about 200 feet.* Such detached pyramidal 

 masses are of frequent occurrence on this coast, a re- 

 markable perforated one being seen in Loch Bracadale, 

 and a similar one not far from Loch Eynort. They 

 are, like all other objects out of the ordinary course 

 of nature, rather singular than picturesque : the strange 

 and the bizarre are seldom legitimate subjects for painting, 

 and rarely please long, after the first wonder has subsided. 

 Some caves are found in Loch Bracadale but they have 

 no particular claims on notice, either from their beauty, 

 their magnitude, or their singularity. Similar caves 

 are of frequent occurrence between Talisker and Loch 

 Brittle; the low projecting rocks being also often per- 

 forated by arches which are sometimes exceedingly 

 complicated and remarkable. With the exception of 

 some projecting points of high rock, the shores of Loch 

 Bracadale are flat, this tract being also one of the most 

 fertile spots in Sky. At its southern extremity the cliffs 

 are perfectly vertical, and without that slope at the 

 foot which so commonly accompanies the high cliffs 

 of trap and are so conspicuous in some places on the 

 eastern side of the island. The retired and green valley 

 of Talisker opens to the sea by a low beach, on which 



* Plate III. 



