SCARBA. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 171 



SCARBA.* 



THIS island is the second in the chain of which Jura 

 and Isla form the southernmost parts and Lunga the 

 northern; being, as I have already remarked, conti- 

 nuous with them in structure and in geographical posi- 

 tion. The structure of Jura indeed, would in many points 

 be difficult to discover, were it not for the illustration 

 which it receives from the more exposed and perfect 

 arrangements visible in Scarba and Lunga. 



The details of the rocks of Scarba are seen to the 

 greatest advantage in the deep natural section which 

 separates it from Jura, and is the northern boundary of 

 the strait so well known by the name of Coryvrechan ; 

 the Charybdis of Scotland, that realizes the dangers 

 with which poetry seems in former times to have invested 

 the Sicilian gulf. This section may be examined from 

 the land, but the journey is toilsome and rugged, nor 

 is the whole so obvious as from sea. The geologist will 

 therefore be pleased to know that even the terrible 

 Coryvrechan has its periods of repose ; when he may, 

 with due caution, make use of his boat in viewing this 

 instructive and magnificent shore. The natural grandeur 

 of the objects is not a little increased by the circum- 

 stances of terror with which the very name is attended, 

 and by the certainty of the impending danger ; the 

 periodical and inevitable return of which, threatens at 

 every instant, him who may have miscalculated his time, 

 or who may linger away his minutes on rocks more 

 dangerous than those of the Syrens. 



The circumstances that constitute the dangers of this 

 sound, are, in a less degree, to be seen in many places 



* Scarpa, sharp, Danish. Terms derived from this root are still parts 

 of the English language. See the Map of the Slate isles. 



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