740 



MULL. 



Mull. 



Mineralo- 

 gy- 



bermory and Aros. Tobermory (St. Mary's Well) 

 was begun in ITS;), under the auspices of the Society 

 for the Encouragement of manufactories and Fisheries. 

 A custom-house and po-it-oiiiee were built in 1791, 

 and niiny good houses of stone and lime, and covered 

 with slate, have been since erected. It has of late in- 

 creased in population, and now contains about f)00 in- 

 habitants. It has a fine bay and harbour, shelter- 

 ed from the ocean by the Isle of Calve. It had in 

 1810, 11 registered vessels, manned by 29 men, and 

 amounting to 278 tons burden; and there are, be- 

 sides, 28 open boaU, with three men each, which are 

 commonly employed in the fishery. The village has 

 therefore 113 seamen. In 1808 the number of ves- 

 sels which entered inwards was 58, and those whjch 

 cleared out 70. There is also a harbour at Aros, and 

 near it a picturesque old castle, which is said to have 

 belonged to the Lord of the Isles. The castle of 

 Moy, situated in Loch Buv, is another of the antiqui- 

 ties of Mull. It is very entire, and forms a fine con- 

 trast with the modern excellent mansion-house which 

 stands near it. 



According to Dr. Macculloch, the island of Mull 

 may be divided into five physical districts; viz. the 

 primary, the southern trap, the middle trap, the nor- 

 them trap, and the mountain districts. The first oc- 

 cupies the western end of Ross, bounded by a line 

 from near Bunessan to Shiha, and the southern trap 

 division stretches from this line to Don-art Castle; the 

 middle trap occupies the promontory of Gribon, as far 

 as the foot of Benmore, where the mountainous divi- 

 sion commences, extending to the opposite coast, and 

 bounded by the castle of Aros on one side, and ter- 

 minating on the other between Macalister's Bay and 

 the head of Loch Don. The northern trap division 

 occupies the rest of the island, to the north of a line 

 drawn from Aros to the head of Loch na Keal. In 

 the middle trap division there are numerous caves, 

 one of the largest of which is that known by the name 

 of Mackinnon's Cave. " Although dark, lofty, and 

 non's Cave, profound," says Dr. Macculloch, and from these cir- 

 cumstances imposing to the imagination, it offers no 

 forms for the painter ; nothing but an abyss of vacancy, 

 on which the eye seeks in vain to repose even for a 

 moment on the evanescent objects around. It appears 

 to be one of the discontinuities formed by a vein of 

 trap, which has afterwards been washed out; this 

 being the most common origin of those caves which 

 are found in the western ishnds. At a little distance 

 from this, is to be seen an open and arched, but shal- 

 low excavation of great size, formed in the secondary 

 strata, through the ronf of which numerous small 

 streams of water perpetually distill, generating huge 

 but rude deposits of calcareous matter in stalactitic 

 forms. Ash-trees and ivy mantle over the roof, and 

 creep along the walls, producing with the sublime 

 back-ground of the cliffs which tower high and distant 

 above it, a scene of great effect and admirable colour- 

 ing." 



Besides the districts already mentioned, the trap 

 extends over Eorsa, Colonsa, Staffa, Ulva, Gometra, the 

 Treshnish Isles, Calve Isle, and Glass Isle. The gra- 

 nite occupies all the part of the Ross or promontory 

 west of a line drawn between Sui and Ardchivoaig, 

 and extends to the neighbouring shores of lona. It rises 

 into numerous hills, not exceeding 800 feet in height. 

 To the granite succeeds, on its cast boundary, a belt of 

 primary strata, extending to a line between Bunessan 

 and Shiha. These strata are alternations of quartz 



Mackin- 



rock and micaceous schist in some parts, and schistose Mull, 

 gneiss in others. > ""~Y~"' 



The secondary strata occur in small quantity, and 

 occupy very disjointed positions. The limestone com- 

 mences at a part to the east of Loch Speliv, and 

 tinties to Loch Buy, being interrupted only by the 

 opening of Loch Speliv. It then begins at the west 

 side of Loch Buy, and extends to Carsaig, where it seems 

 to terminate, and where commence the strata of sand- 

 stone usually associated with it, and extending to 

 the western cliili of Inismore. Another portion of se- 

 condary rocks occurs at Achnacrosh, forming a small 

 hill, and stretching to the sea-shore. They consist al- 

 most entirely of limestone. Coal Itas been found only 

 in two places in Mull, viz. in a thin stratum under the 

 trap of Ardtan, and in a bed, nearly three feet thick, 

 near Carsaig, in the sandstone strata. All attempts to 

 work it have proved unavailing. 



The principal islands round Mull are, Tyree, Coll, Circum- 

 Lismore, Kerreray, Eisdale, Ulva, Gometra, Treshinish j-icent 

 Isles, Staffa, lona, Scorba, Lunga, Luing, Shuna, and lslan(t>> 

 Saoil. Under the articles IOMA, LISMORE, SCOHBA, (in- 

 cluding Lunga, Luing, Shuna, Eisdale, Kerrary, ami 

 Saoil,); STAFFA, TYHEE, (including COLL,); ULVA, 

 (including Gometra, Eorsa, and Colonsay,) the read- 

 er will find a description of these islands ; and \ve shall 

 now proceed to give a short account of the remainder. 



Inchkenneth is an island situated about three- i s ' an d of 

 fourths of a mile from the west coast of Mull, between Ii.ciiken- 

 it and Ulva. It was a seminary of monks, dependent neih. 

 on lona, and the vestiges of the chapel, the cross and the 

 tombs, still remain. Sir Allan M'Lean's house, where 

 Dr. Johnson was so hospitably entertained, is now in 

 ruins. According to Dr. Macculloch the island is ele- 

 vated towards the north-west, with high overhanging 

 cliffs rising to upwards of 100 feet. The rocks consist 

 almost entirely of sandstone and conglomerate. The 

 beds of conglomerate constitute a mass apparently about 

 100 feet thick. The rock upon which they rest ap- 

 pears to be quartz rock, exceedingly compact. 



The Treshinish isles are in the form of a ridge, five Trsahinlsh. 

 miles long, and extending north-east. The principal 

 islands are Cairnburg, Little Cairnburg, Fladda, Linga 

 and Bach. They belong to the farm of Treshinish 

 in Coll, and are uninhabited, but being corered with 

 rich grass, they afford excellent pasture for black cat- 

 tle. They are all surrounded with perpendicular cliffs 

 from 20 to 40 feet high. The remains of fortifications 

 in the large Cairnburg appear to have been erected by 

 the M' Leans, who resisted for some time a detachment 

 of Cromwell's army, but they were at last taken and 

 burnt. They appear, Dr. Macculloch thinks, to have 

 been mounted with ordnance. The barrack on the 

 small Cairnburg is still pretty entire. The island of 

 Fladda is flat and uninteresting. Linga rises by a suc- 

 cession of terraces to a hill about 300 feet high, but 

 the great part of the island is low and level. Bach is re- 

 markable for a hill which in some aspects appears hemis- 

 pherical, and it seems to be as high as Linga. All these 

 islands are formed of trap-rocks ; the uppermost bed, 

 where two are visible, consisting of basalt, and the se- 

 cond being an amygdaloid, containing mesotype and an- 

 alcime. For further information respecting these islands 

 see M'Donald's Arigcultural Survey of the Hebrides, 

 p. 669. Edin. 1811. Smith's Agricultural Report of Ar- 

 gyllshire. Lond. 1813 ; and Dr. Macculloch's Descrip- 

 tion of the Western Islands, vol. i. p. 530, 527, and 

 vol. iii. p. 73. Edin. 1819. 



MULTIPLIER. See ELECTRICITY, vol. viii. p. 527. 



