2 STAFFA. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



these maritime coasts : and among them the most attrac- 

 tive are Ligusticum scoticum, Rhodiola rosea, Matricaria 

 maritima, and Rosa spinosissima. Staffa is pastured by a 

 herd, oi' black cattle, but there has long ceased to be a 

 hoyse en it ; the , change in the system of Highland farms 

 having materially altered the distribution of the popu- 

 lation over most parts of this country. The want of some 

 shelter from an occasional storm has frequently proved 

 a cause of inconvenience to the visitors who in summer 

 time crowd to this far-famed spot. It would become 

 a serious evil, should a boat be detained for a night or 

 more ; a circumstance not unlikely to occur during the 

 gales of wind which in autumn rise so suddenly on this 

 coast. 



Much difficulty being conceived to attend this expe- 

 dition, which is commonly made a subject of very ground- 

 less terror to persons inexperienced at sea, by the boatmen 

 and others who find an interest in exciting alarm, the 

 reader will perhaps not be displeased to hear the truth 

 on this subject. Having visited it several times, and in 

 almost every state of wind and weather, I am able to say, 

 from experience, that a landing may almost always be 

 effected with safety in any weather in which a boat of 

 the class usually employed in visiting it would keep the 

 sea, or leave the port of Ulva. I have in fact both landed 

 and embarked, when my long boat of eighteen feet 

 keel was scarcely able to live in the sea which broke 

 round it, and when not a fisherman on all the coast 

 would venture out of port. But I must add, that it was 

 not with Highland boatmen, whose want of knowledge 

 and of readiness in the delicate management required 

 for a small boat in a difficult sea, are enough to frighten 

 even a bold seaman. The landing places lie to the east- 

 ward, and are therefore to the lee of those winds which 

 in general, and particularly in summer, bring a heavy 

 sea on them. A fresh breeze from the east or south-east 

 will undoubtedly cause a swell on this shore ; in which 



