A SUMMER RAMBLE AMONG THE HEBRIDES. 99 



self asleep ; and I never, on any other occasion, so felt the 

 desolateness of my condition as when the cry of my boy, 

 * Home, home, home !' was ringing in my ears." 



We passed, on the one hand, Loch Nevis and Loch Houm, 

 two fine arms of the sea that run far into the mainland, and 

 open up noble vistas among the mountains ; and, on the other, 

 the long undulating line of Sleat in Skye, with its inter- 

 mingled patches of woodland and arable on the coast, and its 

 mottled ranges of heath and rock above. Towards evening 

 we entered the harbour of Isle Ornsay, a quiet well-sheltered 

 bay, with a rocky islet for a breakwater on the one side, and 

 the rudiments of a Highland village, containing a few good 

 houses, on the other. Half a dozen small vessels were riding 

 at anchor, curtained round, half-mast high, with herring-nets : 

 and a fleet of herring-boats lay moored beside them a little 

 nearer the shore. There had been tolerable takes for a few 

 nights in the neighbouring sea, but the fish had again disap- 

 peared, and the fishermen, whose worn-out tackle gave such 

 evidence of a long-continued run of ill luck, as I had learned 

 to interpret on the east coast, looked gloomy and spiritless, 

 and reported a deficient fishery. I found Mrs Swanson and 

 her family located in one of the two best houses in the vil- 

 lage, with a neat enclosure in front, and a good kitchen- 

 garden behind. The following day I spent in exploring the 

 rocks of the district, a primaiy region with regard to or- 

 ganic existence, " without form and void." From Isle Orn- 

 say to the Point of Sleat, a distance of thirteen miles, gneiss 

 is the prevailing deposit ; and in no place in the district are 

 the strata more varied and interesting than in the neighbour- 

 hood of Knockhouse, the residence of Mr Elder, which I 

 found pleasingly situated at the bottom of a little open bay, 

 skirted with picturesque knolls partially wooded, that present 

 to the surf precipitous fronts of rock. One insulated eminence, 

 a gun-shot from the dwelling-house, that presents to the sea 



