AND BRITISH CHANNEL* 475 



some of the projecting bastions, formerly at a dis- 

 tance from the sea, are now in danger of being 

 undermined by the water ; and it has been found 

 necessary to construct a kind of chevaux de frise, 

 to break the force of the waves before they reach 

 the wallsi The same remarks regarding the de- 

 structive effects of the sea, are also applicable to 

 the shores of the Frith of Dornoch, and more shel- 

 tered Frith of Cromarty, and the great basin above 

 fort George,- and even of Loch Beauly« The 

 coast of Caithness, the islands of Orkney, and the Caithness, 



^ ^ - i n - t Orkney an<| 



southern parts of ShetJand, consist chiefly or sand- Shetland, 

 stone rocks, and from their great exposure to the 

 sea, it is no wonder that they appear in many 

 places to be rapidly wasting. In Orkney it de- 

 serves particularly to be remarked, that the Start 

 Point of Sanday, which is now formed into an 

 island every flood -tide, was, even in the recollec- 

 tion of some old people stiii alive, one continuous 

 tract of firm ground ; but at present, the channel 

 between Sanday and the Start Island, as it is now 

 called, is hardly left by the water in neap tides y 

 and since a light- house was erected upon this 

 Point about ten years ago, the channel appears to 

 have worn down at least two feet. It would in- 

 deed be an endless task, to enter into mmutiae re- 

 garding the W'aste observable upon the western 

 coast of Scotland, includine; the shires of Suther- Sutherland, 



^ Ross, &c. 



land, Ross and Inverness, although defended from 

 the heavier breach of the Atlantic Ocean, by the 



H h 4 



