A SUMMER RAMBLE AMONG THE HEBRIDES. 143 



of sunset, when it ceased, and a light breeze began to unroll 

 the thick fogs from off the landscape, volume after volume, 

 like coverings from off a mummy, leaving exposed in the 

 valley of the Lias a brown and cheerless prospect of dark 

 bogs and of debris-covered hills, streaked this evening witli 

 downward lines of foam. The seaward view is more pleas- 

 ing. The deep russet of the interior we find bordered for 

 miles along the edge of the bay with a many-shaded fringe 

 of green ; and the smooth grassy island of Pabba lies in the 

 midst, a polished gem, all the more advantageously displayed 

 from the roughness of the surrounding setting. We took 

 boat, and explored the Lias in our immediate neighbourhood 

 till dusk. I had spent several hours among its deposits when 

 on my way to Portree, and several hours more when on my 

 journey across the country to the east coast ; but it may be 

 well, for the sake of maintaining some continuity of descrip- 

 tion, to throw together my various observations on the for- 

 mation, as if made at one time, and to connect them with 

 my exploration of Pabba, which took place on the following 

 morning. The rocks of Pabba belong to the upper part of 

 the Lias ; while the lower part may be found leaning to the 

 south, towards the Red Sandstones of the Bay of Lucy. 

 Taking what seems to be the natural order, I shall begin with 

 the base of the formation first 



In the general indentation of the coast, in the opening of 

 which the island of Pabba lies somewhat like a long green 

 steam-boat at anchor, there is included a smaller indentation, 

 known as the Bay or Cove of Lucy. The central space in 

 the cove is soft and gravelly ; but on both its sides it is flanked 

 by low rocks, that stretch out into the sea in long rectilinear 

 lines, like the foundations of dry-stone fences. On the south 

 side the rocks are red ; on the north they are of a bluish- 

 gray colour ; their hues are as distinct as those of the coloured 

 patches in a map : and they represent geological periods that 



