Earl Compton on the Rocks of the Isle of Mull. 
373 
but its height, and perhaps also some mist in the atmosphere, 
prevented my being able to distinguish whether it was so. 
At the distance of about a mile and a half beyond this point, and 
about four miles from the farm house of Carseg, are the two arched 
rocks, which are the principal curiosities of this extraordinary coast, 
(Plates 20 and 21.) The large arch is called in Gaelic, Uamh-uill, 
or the pierced cave, from its being open at both ends. It is about 
sixty feet high, and between fifty and sixty broad, running east 
and west, nearly straight, for about one hundred and fifty feet. 
It is nearly of the same breadth and height throughout, but rather 
declines to the east. The roof of this cave is irregularly semi- 
circular. The rock which it pierces is basalt, resting on green sand. 
It comes forward from the main coast, and is, I should think, from 
one hundred and ten to one hundred and twenty feet in height. 
Over the arch is a stratum of basaltic columns, irregular in height, 
varying in that respect from about ten to forty feet ; a small grassy 
hill of a few feet rises above the columns. The main rock of the 
coast to which the arched rock is attached, is of basalt, about four 
hundred feet high, and at about half that height are seen irregular 
strata of columns inclining in different directions. 
The smaller arch is called Bidda vich Re Lochlin, or the 
promontory of the son of the King of Norway, because a Norwegian 
Prince is said to have been lost there. The rock which it pierces 
is small, narrow, and high, detached from the coast, and standing 
to the west of the other cave. It is from one hundred and ten to 
one hundred and twenty feet in height, and the arch is about 
seventy feet high, but much narrower than the other, and a very 
few feet in length, from the want of breadth of the rock which it 
traverses. The direction of this cave is nearly north and south. 
On the top of the rock is a row apparently of single basaltic 
