112 KERREKA. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



never resided in Lorn, and it is impossible therefore 

 that it could have been a royal residence : that tradition 

 seems to rest on testimony as unworthy of attention 

 as the metropolitan claims of the plain of Beregonium. 

 In the regal character of Dunstaffnage is involved a 

 set of additional doubts respecting the fatal stone, said 

 to have been carried from it to Scone by Kenneth the 

 Second, and subsequently removed to Westminster Abbey 

 by Edward. Respecting the real history of this talisman, 

 it is now in vain to inquire ; but the original transportation 

 of Jacob's pillow to the wilds of Lorn, is not much more 

 imaginary than the greater part of the history of Dun- 

 staffnage.* 



Although the coast outline of Kerrera is little marked 

 by prominencies or indentations, the surface of the 

 island is extremely irregular ; being formed of numerous 

 small hills separated by hollows, disposed in a manner 

 so intricate as to render it a perfect labyrinth to a 

 stranger, when excluded from a sight of the leading 

 outline of the shores. In this respect it resembles the 

 neighbouring coast of Argyllshire ; the rugged outlines 

 and graceless forms of which can scarcely fail to have 

 impressed all those who have visited Oban or Dun- 

 starlhage. It may be called, in the strictest sense, a 

 hilly island, since it scarcely possesses a continuous acre 

 of level land : the little that exists, is at the northern 

 extremity. I obtained no measure of the greatest altitude, 

 which is near the centre of the island, but conjecture 

 that it does not fall short of 1200 feet. Abrupt faces 

 of rock sometimes terminate these hills, and, as in most 

 trap countries, they are found in the interior as frequently 

 as on the sea coasts. At the southern extremity, these 

 cliffs extend to the sea shore, in a variety of intricate 

 and rugged forms well suited to the character of the 



* The stone in question is a calcareous sandstone exactly resembling 

 that which forms the doorway of DunsturTnage castle. 



