144 TORSA.-* GEXERAL DESCRIPTION. 



TORS A.* 



THIS small island occupies a point between Seil, Luing r 

 and the adjoining continent, whence it shares in the 

 structure of the whole ; connecting the interrupted parts 

 of the eastern ridges which are common to these two 

 islands, and extending the succession of the strata of 

 Luing a step nearer to the mainland. The continuity 

 of its strata to those of the two islands above named, 

 together with their parallel disposition and community 

 of structure, render it, in a geological sense, an integrant 

 part of the group, and thus give it an interest which it 

 could not claim in an independent view. 



Torsa is about a mile broad and three long, and of an- 

 irregularly oval figure ; consisting of one smooth and green 

 hill scarcely 200 feet in height, with a lower subsidiary 

 rid ere to the westward, and descending; to the shore, 



O ' O * 



almost on all sides, with a gentle declivity. It is so 

 intimately connected with Luing, that there is a passage 

 from the one to the other till half tide, over a rocky 

 bar not 100 yards in breadth ; and it is beset with 

 some rocky islets, which being merely detached frag- 

 ments of the principal island, and partaking exactly of 

 the natures of the different strata in the line of which 

 they lie, require no particular notice. Through the 

 intricate channels thus formed, the tide runs with great 

 rapidity and in very complicated directions ; the atten- 

 tion which is hence required to navigate them, adding 

 much to the liveliness of the scene and to the interest 

 excited by the picturesque intricacy of the whole strait, 

 and by the clearness of the geological details which these 



* Torst, dry, Danish. Whether this derivation be correct or not, the 

 term is very characteristic of the island. Srr tho Mnp of the Slate 

 isles. 



