104 THE CRUISE OF THE BETSEY ; OR, 



hill, seems a little bit of flat fertile England, laid down, as if 

 for contrast's sake, amid the wild rough Hebrides. Of Pabba 

 and its wonders, however, more anon. I explored a con- 

 siderable range of shore along the bay ; but as I made it the 

 subject of two after explorations ere I mastered its deposits, 

 I shall defer my description till a subsequent chapter. It was 

 late this evening ere the post-gig arrived from the south, and 

 the night and several hours of the following morning were 

 spent in travelling to Portree. I know not, however, that I 

 could have seen some of the wildest and most desolate tracts 

 in Skye to greater advantage. There was light enough to 

 show the bold outlines of the hills, lofty, abrupt, pyramidal, 

 just such hills, both in form and grouping, as a profile in 

 black showed best ; a low blue vapour slept in the calm over 

 the marshes at their feet ; the sea, smooth as glass, reflected 

 the dusk twilight gleam in the north, revealing the narrow 

 sounds and deep mountain-girdled lochs along which we pass- 

 ed ; gray crags gleamed dimly on the sight ; birch-feathered 

 acclivities presented against sea and sky their rough bristly 

 edges ; all was vast, dreamy, obscure, like one of Martin's 

 darker pictures : the land of the seer and the spectre could 

 not have been better seen. Morning broke dim and gray, 

 while we were yet several miles from Portree ; and I reached 

 the inn in time to see from my bed-room windows the first 

 rays of the rising sun gleaming on the hill-tops. 



