A SUMMER RAMBLE AMONG THE HEBRIDES. 51 



edged atop with a lacing of silver. Such was the aspect of 

 the noble breakwater in front Fully two-thirds of the semi- 

 circular rampart of rock which shuts in the crescent-shaped 

 plain directly opposite lay in deep shadow ; but the sun shone 

 softly on the plain itselij brightening up many a dingy cot- 

 tage, and many a green patch of corn ; and the bay below 

 stretched out, sparkling in the light There is no part of the 

 island so thickly inhabited as this flat meniscus. It is com- 

 posed almost entirely of Oolitic rocks, and bears atop, espe- 

 cially where an ancient oyster-bed of great depth forms the sub- 

 soil, a kindly and fertile mould. The cottages lie in groupes ; 

 and, save where a few bogs, which it would be no very dif- 

 ficult matter to drain, interpose their rough shag of dark 

 green, and break the continuity, the plain around them waves 

 with corn. Lying fair, green, and populous within the sweep 

 of its inaccessible rampart of rock, at least twice as lofty as 

 the ramparts of Babylon of old, it reminds one of the sub- 

 urbs of some ancient city lying embosomed, with all its dwell- 

 ings and fields, within some roomy crescent of the city walL 

 We passed, ere we entered on the level, a steep-sided narrow 

 dell, through which a small stream finds its way from the 

 higher grounds, and which terminates at the upper end in an 

 abrupt precipice, and a lofty but very slim cascade. " One 

 of the few superstitions that still linger on the island," said 

 my friend the minister, " is associated with that wild hollow. 

 It is believed that shortly before a death takes place among 

 the inhabitants, a tall withered female may be seen in the 

 twilight, just yonder where the rocks open, washing a shroud 

 in the stream. John, there, will perhaps tell you how she 

 was spoken to on one occasion, by an over-bold, over-inqui- 

 sitive islander, curious to know whose shroud she was pre- 

 paring ; and how she more than satisfied his curiosity, by tell- 

 ing him it was his own. It is a not uninteresting fact," add- 

 ed the minister, " that my poor people, since they have become 



