56 Proceedings of the Boy al Society 
was to visit that island, which he appears to have studied with 
scrupulous care, having spent nine days in the northern and most 
interesting part of the island. He was accompanied hy a fellow- 
student named Shute. He there became a convert to the igneous 
theory of granite, and seems to have been among the first to direct 
attention to the granite veins of Tor-nid-neon, afterwards more 
carefully explored by Mr James Jardine.* 
On the 6th August 1807, Necker again left Edinburgh to visit 
StaflTa and the Western Highlands. He travelled by Inverary and 
Oban, and traversing Mull, enjoyed at the small island of Ulva the 
hospitality of Mr Macdonald of Staffa, with whom he formed a 
close friendship, and of whose kindness I have heard him speak 
warmly even in his later years. From Ulva he made two excur- 
sions to Staffa, to the geology and mineralogy of which he of course 
devoted the utmost attention. He next visited the Island of Coll, 
where he observed traces of the action of the Grulf- stream in the 
transported seeds and other products of West Indian origin. He 
crossed to Tiree, with its ornamental marble ; on leaving which he 
was driven back to Coll by stress of weather, hut finally reached 
Eigg, ascended the Scuir, celebrated for its pitchstone, its fossil 
wood, and for the cavern which was the scene of a well-known 
historic massacre. Thence he touched at Eum and Canna, care- 
fully visiting w^hat was most interesting in each ; crossed to South 
Uist, and finally to Skye, reaching Talisker on the 23d September. 
The advanced season of the year compelled him soon to think of 
returning southwards. After a stay of a few days only, he left 
Skye with vivid feelings of regret at having obtained only a glance 
at its noble scenery and interesting mineralogy. Little did he then 
think that that island should one day be as familiar to him as his 
native Switzerland, and should, after more than half a century, 
afford him a final resting-place ! He returned to Edinburgh by Inver- 
ness, Elgin, and Blair- Athole, without, however, visiting G-len Tilt. 
These particulars have been chiefiy gathered from a journal of 
his Tour in Scotland, by Mr Necker, evidently nearly all written 
at the time, but (with a procrastination which became habitual 
with him) not published until 1821 f (fourteen years later), when 
^ A model of these by Jardine is stated by Necker to have been presented 
to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. I trust it still may be found in their museum. 
f Voyages en Ecosse et aiix Isles Hebrides, par L. A, Necker de Saussure, 
