Oct. 31, 1884.] 



* KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



367 



force of the ocean. On the east, the coast-line is very much 

 shorter, and the character of the land is much less harsh. 

 Sandstones and clays abound, and, although some of the 

 clifl's are mountain-like, the aspect of the shores is infiuitely 

 less wild and romantic, and there is an absence, too, of 

 those islands which form so prominent a feature on the 

 west. To some extent, indeed, we have here much of the 

 contrasts found between the shores of western England, 

 Wale.s, and the eastern counties ; but in Scotland it is 

 much more marked, as we here enter a zone of fiercer 

 tempests and of wilder storms, while the sapping action of 

 frost is, of course, much more marked. 



From the Solway Firth to the terrible and appositely- 

 named Cape Wrath, the coast is swept by the Atlantic, 

 and, in a great measure, protected by the various great 

 islands and groups of islands which, in fine and warm 

 weather, imparts an indescribable charm to our own 

 archipelago, which, if it wants the historic associations of 

 the isles of Greece, possesses undoubtedly very great 

 beauties of its own, and not a few majestic memorials of 

 the historic past. 



The Solway Firth and the Firth of Clyde are both 

 remarkable for beauty, but the latter is in many respects 

 unsurpassed. Passing seawards from Greenock, in the 

 distance may be discerned the grand amphitheatre of the 

 Argyllshire and adjacent mountain opening ever and anon 

 into stupendous gorges, between which the sea flows into 

 many a far-off Highland vale. 



Right out in the Firth of Clyde lies Arran — a mass of 

 movmtains and heath, and soaring northwards into 

 singularly grand, jagged peaks. The culminating point is 

 Goatftll, known in Gallic as Gaoth Bheinn, or Beinn 

 Ghaoith — in other words, the Wind Mountain, a well- 

 merited name, and forming somethicg like a pyramid 

 2,865 feet high. Down the sides of this great land and 

 sea mark are the wild, picturesque, beautiful glens of Eosa 

 and Sannox, and at the foot is Brodick Bay. The prin- 

 cipal harbour is Lamlach Bay, the best, perhaps, on the 

 Forth, and having very good hotel accommodation. In 

 the vicinity may be seen a mass of fine columnar basalt, a 

 thousand feet high ; and southwards are some good water- 

 falls, one fall a hundred feet high. South-east lies Kildonan 

 Castle, and all along these stately basaltic formations are 

 huge caverns, in one of which, tradition says, Robert the 

 Bruce lay concealed a considerable time. 



Geologically, Arran is full of special interest, as here 

 may be seen, and easily too, a greater succession of strata 

 than in any other region of the United Kingdom of like 

 area. Devonian sandstone, trap rocks, carboniferous strata, 

 Silurian rocks, and oolite, may all be studied to great ad- 

 vantage, and beside all this grandeur of rock and precipice, 

 there are many sheltered fertile spots of singular beauty. 

 Rivers, properly speaking, there are none, but the mountain 

 torrents are numerous, and one of them makes a splendid 

 leap into the sea of 300 feet over a perfect preci[jice. 

 Various antiquities abound. There are plenty of cairns, 

 monoliths, and Druid remains, and in the ruins of Loch 

 Ranza Castle may be seen what was a residence of Scotland's 

 ancient Kings. 



The Mull of Cantyr forms another remarkable feature 

 of this wild and romantic coast. It is a promontory form- 

 ing the extreme end of a peninsula some forty miles long, 

 and, in places, only half a mile wide, and reaching to 

 within nearly twelve miles of the Irish coast. Then comes 

 Islay, westward still, with its spine of mountainous hills, 

 rising from 800 to 1,-500 feet high, and its great distilleries, 

 which give a special character to this region ; and passing 

 Islay we reach the noble Firth of Lorn, which, sheltered 

 from much of the fury of Atlantic gales by the great , 



island of Mull, corresponds to the vast Moray Firth of the 

 east coast, and, ultimately, contracts into Loch Linnhe, 

 which, in its turn, narrows into other lochs. 



Mull, after the Isle of Skye, is the largest of all the 

 Inner Hebrides, and includes great part of Argyllshire, 

 while off its we^tern extremity lies the most famous, in 

 many respects, of all the western isles of Scotland, lona — 

 which is believed, by the way, to have obtained its name 

 through the mistaken reading cf n for u, the original word 

 Joua — the island ; further yet out in the Atlantic Ls 

 Staffa, that wondrous table-land, with its steep cliffs, its 

 basalt columns and extraordinary caverns, the most famous 

 being, of course, Fingal's Cave, with its mighty nature- 

 built arch, its ocean floor flashing strange lights against 

 the calcareous stalagmite of the marvellous roof. 



Scott, some of whose poetry has been called, with a con- 

 tempt that is, in reality, very great praise, a guide-book to 

 the Highlands, alludes to this part of the west coast in a 

 well-known passage, where he speaks of — 



Ulva dark and CoIoDsay, 

 And all the group of islets gay 

 That guard famed Staffa round. 



Let it not be supposed that the word " gay " is merely in- 

 serted for the sake of rhyme. There is reason, too, and, set 

 in the bright sunny seas of summer, few places in Great 

 Britain are more worthy to be called gay. On lona, for 

 example, the land is so fertile that barley, sown prior to 

 June 15, is ready for the sickle in August, and, in the dark 

 acres, the prolific crops reaped from these western islands, 

 whenever the inhabitants bestirred themselves, were gene- 

 rally held as miraculous testimonies to the holy labours of 

 St. Columba in these wild find barbarous regions. 



Mull is triangular in form, and has an area of 237,000 

 acres. The surface is chiefly mountainous, and there ar 

 many lakes, while Ben More rises to the height of 3,185 ft. 

 There is much fine moorland, and woods exist in the north; 

 but during the fierce gales that blow over from the Atlantic, 

 it is not, it must be confessed, quite the place for ordinary 

 tourists. 



The Hebrides, or Western Islands, are really the Ebudse 

 of Ptolemy, and were first colonised, it is said, in the ninth 

 century from Norway. The Gulf Stream greatly mitigates 

 what would otherwise be a rigorous climate, and snow 

 rarely lies long on the ground near the sea-level. The 

 Islands number nearly 500, but not more than 130, at 

 most, are inhabited, and the entire area has been roughly 

 estimated at 3,000 square miles. In few places, if any, in 

 the three Kingdoms is such sublime and imposing scenery 

 to be found. Skye, which in Gaelic is expressively called 

 sManach — i.e. winged — presents a most remarkable ap- 

 pearance against the horizon. The Coolin mountains 

 stretch from north-east to south-west, and soar up into the 

 lofty peak of Scoor-nan-Gillean, 3,183 ft. above the sea- 

 level. Here is to be seen the famous Loch Coruisk, which 

 is nearly walled in by mountains 3,000 ft. high. Justly, 

 indeed, does Scott speak of " Skye's romantic shore, where 

 Coolin stoops him to the west." Glen Sligachan is often 

 cited as being the grandest glen in all the Highlands, and 

 between Loch Staffin and Rhu-oam-Brarin the coast is 

 marked by a splendid series of fine basaltic formation, 

 which, in reality, surpasses the Giant's Causeway or Staffa 

 even, but which is, popularly speaking, even now little 

 known. These magnificent cliffs are interrupted by many 

 beautiful waterfalls and abound in cave?, besides the historic 

 cavern, near Portree, which sheltered Prince Charles. The 

 only drawback to the full enjoyment of these lovely islands 

 of the western coast of North Britain arises from the fre- 

 quent heavy mists and rains; but in fine weather the tourist 



