224 ISLA. GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



enlivened by the surge of the long rolling swell, which 

 even in calm weather breaks at their feet. 



The traveller who chances here to commence his career 

 among the Western islands, expecting that new manners 

 will meet his view, will be disappointed to find in Isla, 

 little in the habits of the people, or in the aspect of 

 the country, different from that which he has left behind. 

 Circumstances have much changed even since Pennant 

 wrote ; a few years having, under the influence of wealth 

 and intelligence, done much towards effecting that change 

 which it is to be hoped will ultimately take place through 

 the remoter tracts of this neglected country. In investi- 

 gating the causes which have accelerated the progress of 

 Isla towards improvement, and in comparing them with 

 those which have retarded and still retard that of the 

 other islands of this sea, the economist will find ample 

 room for reflection. From the occasional remarks on 

 these subjects which have passed before the reader, he 

 will already have been enabled to form for himself a 

 general notion of these interesting parts of the history 

 of the Western islands : more minute details would be 

 incompatible with the object of this work. 



Isla is of an irregular trapezoidal form, deeply indented 

 at the south side by the great bay of Loch in daal ; its 

 extreme length being twenty-five miles, and its greatest 

 breadth twenty, or thereabout. The continuity of its ge- 

 neral outline with that of Jura, is rendered more impres- 

 sive by that of the directions of the strata which form both 

 the islands. The strait by which they are separated is 

 narrow, and the resemblance of the opposite shores is 

 therefore the more easily seen. So exact is the corre- 

 spondence that we can almost imagine a recent fracture 

 and separation of these two islands ; just as we can con- 

 ceive the forcible disjunction of the high cliffs which on 

 each side bound the Coryvrechan. The shores of this 

 strait are abrupt but not high ; rarely exceeding an hun- 

 dred feet, and seldom perhaps attaining that elevation. 



