Notes on Sula Sgeir and North Bona, with List of Birds. 61 



sheep, was to the tacksman the value of North Rona. To 

 the latter the land was let for £2 a year. 



Such is Dr MacCulloch's account of North Rona. 



Captain Burnaby, R.E., who had charge of the Ordnance 

 Survey in Lewis about thirty-six years ago, gives the fol- 

 lowing description of the physical features of the island: 

 " This island is situated in the Atlantic in latitude 59° T 15'' 

 48, and longitude 5° 48' 50" 45 west, and forms part of the 

 Lewes property, and lies about 38 miles KE. of the Butt of 

 Lewes, with which and Cape Wrath it forms a triangle, 

 which is very nearly equilateral. From its highest point, 

 which is nearly 360 feet above the level of the sea, Cape 

 AVrath, a considerable portion of the neighbouring shore, and 

 some of the Lewes and Harris hills can on a clear day be 

 distinctly seen without the aid of glasses. In figure it bears 

 a striking resemblance to a long-necked glass decanter, with 

 the neck towards the north. Its greatest length is nearly 

 one mile, its greatest breadth the same. At its north end 

 there is a portion about half a mile in length, which varies 

 in breadth from ten to twenty chains. About half of this 

 portion is composed of stratified rock without a particle of 

 vegetation. This is the lowest part of the island, its eastern 

 shore sloping gently to the sea, and its western one, though 

 rugged and broken, not more than 90 feet in altitude. The 

 southern portion is broader and more elevated, the largest 

 part of it being f of a mile broad, and the two hills on the 

 east and west not less than 350 feet high, that on the east 

 being the higher of the two by about 40 feet ; the seaward 

 bases of both these hills form steep, precipitous chffs, which 

 in many places are inaccessible." 



" The rocks around Rona are few and small, the only ones 

 which are more than two chains from the shore beins Gouldio- 

 Beag and Gouldig Mor; the latter is about half a mile 

 south of the south-east point of the island, and the other is 

 between that and the shore. There is another small rock 

 seen only at low water near the south-west point, which is 

 dangerous to navigators who may attempt to cast anchor in 

 its neighbourhood. The soil of Rona is good, and the pasture, 

 though not luxuriant, is beautifully green ; indeed, the whole 



