SCARBA. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 173 



stream in an opposite course, causes the chief gyration, 

 or the whirlpool ; the danger of which is comparatively 

 trifling, since the only effect of it is to prevent the steer- 

 ing of a vessel : the real danger is in the breaking of 

 the sea. Independently of the principal whirlpool, there are 

 numerous others in this stream, as in all similar situations ; 

 which, however dangerous to a boat, are of little conse- 

 quence to a vessel, particularly if there be wind. All 

 this motion and turbulence vanish at the change of 

 tide ; so that even small boats navigate this sound with 

 safety by watching the termination of ebb or flood ; 

 there being an hour or more of repose in neap, and 

 half that quantity in spring tides. 



The length of Scarba is about three miles, and the 

 breadth, two. It consists of a mountain of an oblong 

 conoidal form rising suddenly from the sea ; but more 

 steep towards the west and south than on the opposite 

 sides, and skirted by a lower subsidiary ridge to the 

 eastward. The height of the mountain appears to be 

 about 1500 feet, and the shores are generally high and 

 rocky, or precipitous ; except on the eastern side, where 

 a shallow bay is formed by a slight receding of the 

 coast. With the exception of the ridge above mentioned, 

 the surface is rocky and clothed with heath; but the 

 eastern shore is verdant and covered with natural woods, 

 forming one of the most beautiful objects in this sea. 

 Besides the noble sweep of this magnificent amphitheatre 

 of rock and wood, it commands the variegated and intri- 

 cate channel of the Slate isles, with the sound of Oban 

 and the distant ranges of mountains that extend from 

 Cruachan to Ben Nevis. Few pictures of superior beauty 

 are to be met with throughout the whole of this various 

 and interesting coast. 



THE geological structure of Scarba will be much illus- 

 trated by a diagram* representing in a general way 



* Plate XXIII. fig. 1. 



