152 MEMORIAL TRIBUTE 



creek on Loch Seaforth, in which was his dreary-looking 

 habitation, and having resolved to ascend the highest 

 hill, in order to witness a Hebridian snow-storm in all 

 its glory, I proceeded towards Clisheim, the height of 

 which is estimated at somewhat more than three thousand 

 feet. In despite of hail and snow, and the furious whirl- 

 winds or eddying blasts that swept the mountain at 

 intervals, I made my way, though not without labour, 

 to the summit ; and well was I recompensed, for there 

 I enjoyed a very sublime spectacle. I was on the highest 

 pinnacle of that range of islands denominated the Outer 

 Hebrides or Long Island, perched, like a ptarmigan, on 

 a craggy and precipitous ridge. The islands of Uist, 

 Harris, and Lewis lay, as it were, at my feet. Toward 

 the east and south, in the extreme distance, appeared 

 the mountains of the counties of Ross and Inverness, 

 with the pointed hills and craggy capes and sloping 

 plains of Skye. Westward, a long series of summits, 

 commencing with that on which I stood, and forming a 

 broad ridge, intercepted transversely by deep valleys, 

 extended for several miles. They appeared to be much 

 lower than the mountain on which I was, and resembled 

 heaps of sand formed by pouring it from a vessel. The 

 snow lay rather deep on them all, and the whirlwinds 

 that swept along their ridges, scattering it in spiral flakes, 

 presented an indescribably beautiful and sublime appear- 

 ance. I was enveloped in one, but it did not prove very 

 boisterous. The Atlantic was covered with huge clouds, 

 that advanced in disorderly groups, nearly on a level 

 with my position, but the waving streams of snow and 



