FINGAL'S CAVE. 65 



m the valley. Here was a pretty situation to be placed in, a fainting lady in 

 my arms, with the knowledge that a few seconds would decide whether 

 we were to pass the breach which had been made, or accompany the rock 

 in its descent. To pull up was impossible, the rate at which we were 

 going, and the impetus given to the carriage, totally precluded it, even 

 had there been harness for the horses to hold back with, which there was 

 not. As we approached, a cry of horror came from those in the "Blan- 

 quete'' (the upper part of the Dilligence),who could see the danger, and I 

 thanked God that the lady was insensible. What, if any of the leaders 

 swerved from the path! what, if the conductor had not a steady head, and 

 still steadier hand ! were thoughts of the moment. I threw the lady upon 

 the seat, and climbing through the window of the coupe* to the side of 

 the driver, urged him to keep the heads of the leaders well to the rock ; 

 so that they (if it was yet possible to pass) might not see the danger and 

 start from it. Most fortunately he was a steady fellow ; he did as he 

 was desired, and we galloped over the remaining shelf, barely broad 

 enough for the wheels to run upon ; and, turning round, I could see an 

 additional portion of the road roll down the precipice from the shock 

 which the Dilligence had given it. The danger was seen and passed in 

 the tenth part of the time which I have taken to relate it, and we arrived 

 in safety at the bottom." 



FINGAL'S CAVE. 



The island of StafFa is one of the Hebrides or western isles of Scotland, 

 and lies a few miles to the west of Mull, within a sort of bay formed by the 

 projecting extremities of the island. It is very small, being scarcely a 

 mile in length from north to south, and about half that extent at its 

 greatest breadth from east to west. The island is a mere mass of lava 

 and basalt (from basal, iron ; it is a heavy, hard stone, chiefly black or 

 green, consisting of prismatic crystals, the number of whose sides is 

 uncertain. English miners call it cockle, the German schoerl}. The 

 columns of the latter substance, which compose the chief part of it, are 

 generally hidden between a thin layer of soil; but in many places, even 

 of the surface of the island, they are to be found shooting out through 

 this acquired covering, and the stone is every where come at on digging 

 a few feet down. Around almost the whole circumference of the island 

 the rock stands bare to view. The grassy top of the isle seems to be 



p 



