544 MULL. METEOROLOGY. 



I HAVE already hinted at the extraordinary wetness 

 of this climate. Mull may indeed be said to be the 

 most subject to rain of all the islands; exceeding in that 

 respect either Rum or Sky, which hold the next rank to 

 it. The cause of this is probably to be found, as well in 

 the altitude of its own hills, as in that of the range which 

 extends from Cruachan to Ben Nevis and assists in pre- 

 cipitating the clouds that arrive from the western sea. 

 But it must also be remembered, that it is, with the 

 exception of the southern part of the Lewis and Harris, 

 the only land of high mountains immediately open to 

 that sea. Sky, equally mountainous, is to a certain de- 

 gree covered by the range of the Long isle ; the mountains 

 of Harris precipitating much of the water, and diminishing 

 the violence of many of the storms, which would other- 

 wise reach it. These fall with undiminished energy on 

 Mull, in gales of wind and rain of which the inhabitant 

 of the more favoured climates of Britain can form no 

 conception. 



During the investigation of this island I had an oppor- 

 tunity of observing a barometric phenomenon, which is 

 important as a question of natural history, and is also, on 

 account of the practical results which flow from it, inte- 

 resting to the mariners who navigate these narrow and tem- 

 pestuous seas. While in the sound of Mull, I was overtaken 

 by a gale of extreme severity, which blew the whole night 

 and part of the succeeding day. Previous to it the ba- 

 rometer had for some time remained steady at about thirty 

 inches; and, neither immediately before, nor during its 

 continuance, did the quicksilver subside or experience any 

 oscillation. I must add, that for six weeks of the same 

 season in which this observation was made, similar gales 

 of wind and rain had raged along the coast, and that 

 in but two or three instances was any material depression 

 or change in the barometer found to take place ; its altitude 

 remaining tolerably steady for the whole period, or at least 

 undergoing no changes corresponding to the occurrence 



