Beinn Eolosary of Ulva 



the other was by no means satisfied, and also alighted, close 

 by the buzzard, walking from side to side as though de- 

 bating whether a frontal attack should be made. But 

 at length, apparently arriving at the conclusion that the 

 buzzard was too formidable a customer to be tackled single- 

 handed, the remaining raven took wing and the buzzard was 

 left in peace. 



The heather on the hill was, this early autumn morning, 

 at its best. While on certain Aberdeenshire moors that season 

 it was so burnt by the drought that no bloom was to be seen, 

 on the western seaboard it never lacked moisture, and this 

 day threw its scent far across the hillside. Right up to the 

 summit cairn it was in bloom, and having reached this cairn 

 I spied for some time one of the finest views I have ever 

 enjoyed. Westward one looked across the adjoining island 

 of Gometra — ^which is divided from Ulva by only a very 

 narrow strip of water known as "the Bru " — to where a 

 multitude of islands were set in the deep blue of the Atlantic. 

 A few miles to the westward lay the picturesque group of 

 the Treshnish Isles. Of these, Bac Mor and Bac Beag — or, 

 to give them their more recent names, the "Big and Little 

 Dutchman " — lie farthest out into the Atlantic, but through 

 the glass one could, even at this distance, clearly make out the 

 cattle feeding on their grassy slopes. Then, two miles to the 

 northward from these ocean sentinels, the long green island 

 of Lunga was reflected in the quiet waters, its terraced hill 

 being also tenanted by many cattle. Next came the smaller 

 islets of the Treshnish group : Sgeir a' Chaisteil, or the Castle 

 Rock, with Sgeir an F'heoir (Grass Island), Fladda — where 

 the lobster fishermen live during the season of summer — 

 and the two Carn a' Burg islands. It was on the larger of 

 these two islands that Maclean of Duart had his stronghold 

 in times now long past, and even from Beinn Eolosary the 

 ruins of the fortifications could be seen. Far to the west of 

 the Treshnish Islands lay the Island of Tiree, with its three 

 hills — Beinn Hynish, Ceann a' Bharra, and Beinn Hough— 



45 



