STAFFA. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. J3 



have been already described by others, would not render 

 the blank less sensible here. 



The westernmost of the three which lie in the great 

 south-western face, is known, as will already have been 

 perceived, by the name of Mackinnon's cave.* The tra- 

 ditions respecting this hero are nearly as obscure as those 

 that relate to Fingal, although, to judge by the places to 

 which he has given his name, his celebrity has not been 

 inconsiderable. This cave is much less known than that 

 of Fingal. It is however much more easy of access 

 from the water, both on account of its greater breadth, 

 and because the entrance is free from the rocks which 

 narrow the channel and cause the sea to break into the 

 latter; whence a boat can often enter the former when 

 that is inaccessible. 



The height of Mackinnon's cave from the water, at a 

 quarter ebb, is fifty feet, and its breadth forty eight, so 

 that it presents a large square opening, which, from its 

 depth, catching dark shadows, produces a powerful effect; 

 equal perhaps to that of the great cave, although neither 

 attended by the same symmetry nor elegance of design. 

 The length is 224 feet, and the interior dimensions 



O ' 



throughout are nearly equal to the aperture ; excepting at 

 the extremity, where the roof and walls approach a little, 

 and a beach of pebbles is thrown up. It is thus of a 

 parallelogramic shape ; and as it is entirely excavated in 

 the conglomerate bed, the walls, as well as the ceiling, 

 are, with slight exceptions, even and smooth. It occupies 

 precisely the thickness of this bed, which also forms its 

 external sides. The form, as well as the fracture of this 

 rock, is inelegant ; in consequence of which the internal 

 appearance of this cave is, like most of the exterior, defi- 

 cient in that kind of beauty arising from order and regu- 

 larity which is so remarkable in that of Fingal, although in 

 many respects grand and powerful in effect. The superior 



* Sometimes the Scart, or Cormorant's cave, 



