ISLES OF SCOTLAND. * 297 



tks in this island. The number of inhabitants is between five and 

 six thousand. 



The isle of Skye is the largest of the Hebrides, being about fifty 

 miles in length, and in some places above twenty broad. It abounds, 

 especially in the interior parts, in rocks, mountains, and bogs. The 

 inhabitants are about 15,000 in number. This island forms a part of 

 Inverness-shire. 



Long island, to the westward of Skye, consists of two peninsulas, 

 the northern of which is denominated Lewes, and the southern Har- 

 ris. The extent of both these together is about ninety miles in 

 length, and ten or twelve, and in some parts twenty miles in breadth. 

 The isles of North Uist, South Uist, and Barra, continue this chain 

 of islands to the south 1 10 miles more, including about sixteen miles 

 of water. The number of inhabitants in them all is about 20,000 ; 

 the only town is Stornoway, in the east part of Lewes, a considerable 

 and flourishing place, with an excellent harbour, and containing above 

 2000 inhabitants. At the village of Classerness, in the southern 

 part of the same peninsula, is' a Druidicai temple, as well preserved 

 and perfect, though not of such large dimensions, as that of Stone- 

 henge. 



The celebrated island of Iona, or Hyona, called also Hui, or Hy, 

 and I Coluim Kill, or the Isle of Columba's church, seems to have 

 served as a sanctuary for St. Columba, and Other holy men of learn- 

 ing, while Ireland, England, and Scotland, were desolated by bar- 

 barism. The church of St. Mary, which is built in the form of a 

 cathedral, is a beautiful fabric. It contains the bodies of some Scotch, 

 Irish, and Norwegian kings, with some Gaelic inscriptions. The 

 tomb of Columba, who lies buried here, is uninscribed. The steeple 

 is large, the cupola is twenty-one feet square, the doors and windows 

 are curiously carved, and the altar is of the finest marble. Innu- 

 merable are the inscriptions of ancient customs and ceremonies that 

 are discernible upon this island, and which give countenance to the 

 well-known observation, that when learning was nearly extinct on 

 the continent of Europe, it found a refuge in Scotland, or rather in 

 these islands. 



Staffa, situate ten miles to the north-east of Iona, is a small island, 

 only one mile long, and half a mile broad, and inhabited by a single 

 family. It is however, remarkable, for consisting of one entire pile 

 of basaltic pillars, arranged in natural colonnades, wonderfully magni- 

 ficent. Mr. Banks, now sir Joseph Banks, in relating his voyage 

 through the Hebrides, in 1772, says : " We were no sooner arrived than 

 we were struck with a scene of magnificence which exceeded our ex- 

 pectations, thoifgh founded, as we thought, upon the most sanguine 

 foundations : the whole of that end of the island (Staffa) supported 

 by ranges of natural pillars, mostly above fifty feet high, standing in 

 natural colonnades, according as the bays or points of land formed 

 themselves ; upon a firm basis of solid unformed rock, above these, 

 the stratum which reaches to the soil or surface of the island, varied 

 in thickness as the island itself formed into hills or vallies ; each hill, 

 which hung over the columns below, forming an ample pediment; 

 some of these, above sixty feet in thickness from the base to the point, 

 formed by the sloping of the hill on each side, almost in the shape of 

 those used in architecture." 



The cave of Fingal, a vast and magnificent cavern in this island, 

 371 feet long, 53 broad, and 117 high, composed of such pillars, is 



Vol. I. Q q 



