476 ON THE BED OF THE GERMAN OCEAN 



^«ItS &c. ^h^^" Islands, consisting of the Lewis, Harris 

 Uist and Barra, extend ing about 1 20 miles in a north- 

 eastern and south-western direction, and commonly 

 Argyie. called the Long Island^ while the Isle of Sky and the 

 Argyleshire coast are sheltered by the Western He- 

 ' , brides, including the Great Islands of Mull, Jura, 

 and Isla ; yet even in the most sheltered places of 

 this coast, as we have seen of the Friths of Forth 

 and Moray, the sea in many places is rapidly 

 wasting the shores. These effects, however, are 

 not less obvious on those islands which are ex- 

 posed to the direct breach of the Great Western 

 Ocean, as, for example, on the western shores of the 

 the Lewis and Uist Islands. In Uist, particularly, 

 the sea has overrun considerable tracts of land, 

 forming every tide extensive pools and many ford- 

 able channels. The extensive low link grounds, 

 and all the sandy shores of these Western Islands, 

 and also of Orkney and Shetland, consist almost 

 wholly of broken or pounded shells, thrown up in 

 the first instance by the sea, and afterwards blown 

 by the winds upon the land. 

 Shores of All along the coast of Galloway, and shores of 

 and the^ t^c shires of Ayr, Renfrew, and Bpte, the wasting 

 Clyde, &c. effects of the sea are no less remarkable. In Loch 

 • Ryan, for example, the whole verge of the land 

 round the Loch is visibly wasting, and the margin 

 of the sea is extending outwards. At the town of 

 Stranraer, the houses along the shore had formerly 

 gardens, between them and high -water mark, but 



