A SUMMER RAMBLE AMONG THE HEBRIDES. 211 



half-discovery, the half of a broken medal, with the date 

 on the missing portion. And so, immediately after the ris- 

 ing of the General Assembly in June last [1 845], I set out to 

 revisit Small Isles, accompanied by my friend Mr Swanson, 

 with the determination of acquainting myself with the burial- 

 place of the old Oolitic reptiles, if it lay anywhere open to 

 the light 



We found the Betsey riding in the anchoring ground at 

 Isle Ornsay, in her foul-weather dishabille, with her topmast 

 struck and in the yard, and her cordage and sides exhibiting 

 in their weathered aspect the influence of the bleaching rains 

 and winds of the previous winter. She was at once in an 

 undress and getting old, and, as seen from the shore through 

 rain and spray, for the weather was coarse and boisterous, 

 she had apparently gained as little in her good looks from 

 either circumstance as most other ladies do. We lay storm- 

 bound for three days at Isle Ornsay, watching from the win- 

 dow of Mr Swanson's dwelling the incessant showers sweep- 

 ing down the loch. On the morning of Saturday, the gale, 

 though still blowing right ahead, had moderated ; the minis- 

 ter was anxious to visit this island charge, after his absence 

 of several weeks from them at the Assembly ; and I, more 

 than half afraid that my term of furlough might expire ere 

 I had reached my proposed scene of exploration, was as 

 anxious as he ; and so we both resolved, come what might, 

 on doggedly beating our way adown the Sound of Sleat to 

 Small Isles. If the wind does not fail us, said my friend, 

 we have little more than a day's work before us, and shall 

 get into Eigg about midnight. We had but one of our sea- 

 men aboard, for John Stewart was engaged with his potato 

 crop at home ; but the minister was content, in the emer- 

 gency, to rank his passenger as an able-bodied seaman ; and 

 so, hoisting sail and anchor, we got under way, and, clearing 

 the loch, struck out into the Sound. 



