ST. KILDA. HYDROGRAPHY. 49 



tains. Cochlearia vulgaris and Matricaria maritima, both 

 of an enormous size, also abound among the rocks 

 wherever they can find a lodgment. 



Much has been, and is still said, even in the neighbour- 

 ing islands and among those who navigate the western 

 coasts of Scotland, respecting the difficulty of landing in 

 St. Kilda. As this question is interesting to those who 

 may incline to visit the island, I shall briefly state the 

 circumstances respecting its hydrography, which are most 

 necessary to be known. There is the greater inducement 

 to this, as no account of them is given in any sea chart. 

 Many have doubtless been thus prevented from attempting 

 this voyage ; and it was with much difficulty that I could 

 induce the master of the vessel in which I sailed to approach 

 within three leagues of the land. Experience of the 

 exaggeration which so often attends these difficulties had 

 produced a habit of neglecting such reports, which the 

 knowledge of St. Kilda has tended to confirm. 



The intricacy of the sound of Harris is such that it 

 cannot be navigated without an experienced pilot, who 

 may always be procured at Loch Maddy or Rowdill. 

 From this to St. Kilda the distance is about seventeen 

 leagues. As the landing is rendered difficult or imprac- 

 ticable in easterly and southerly winds, a fair wind is not 

 desirable for the voyage* 



Borera with its accompanying rocks, is much too 

 conspicuous to be a cause of any other dread to mariners 

 than that which would arise from St. Kilda itself in the 

 same case ; namely, the difficulty of ascertaining its 

 proximity in thick weather. The high rock Levenish is 

 also sufficiently conspicuous, since it exceeds an hundred 

 feet in height ; while it forms an excellent mark for a low 

 rock situated very near and barely covered at high water. 

 Excepting this rock, the whole shore is so clean, that 

 vessels of any draught may range it within bowshot ; the 

 water being every where of great depth and the cliffs 

 nearly perpendicular. The stream of tide is here too so 



VOL. u. F, 



